The Test!
by katanakid14
Summary: Okay, I suck at summaries... Um, the Percy Jackson gang has to go on a long and dangerous trip...to the South where things get a little more insane than usual. Pairings are: Percabeth Thalico Groviper.
1. Chapter 1: The Test

Percy walked into the building with his mom and his new step dad, Paul.

"All right. Let's go over this again. You've got your drachma so you can Iris-Message us to pick you up?" Sally Jackson asked Percy.

"Yes." Percy replied nodding his head.

"Riptide in case you get attacked outside?"

"Yes."

"Well, that's it then. Oh, try not to make Lord Ares angry. I would hate to come out here to get you, only to find a pile of ashes. Annabeth would have to " Sally pointed out.

"I don't know. I think Athena is a bigger threat." Paul voiced, causing thunder to roll outside.

"Coming, Zeus." Percy sighed. The thunder stopped immediately. Percy hugged his mom good bye and shook Paul's hand. He walked up to the guard, smiling at him

"600th floor please." Percy said, folding his arms on the desk.

"There ain't a 600th floor." The guard said nonchalantly. Percy looked down at the guard's hat and pulled out a drachma. He flipped it into the hat.

"600th floor, coming up." The guard waved his hand, allowing Percy to pass. Percy walked off and got in the elevator, riding it all the way up. Literally all the way. Finally, the elevator dinged, signaling his arrival. Percy stepped out and looked around. It had been a year since the defeat of Kronos. Some buildings were still in ruins, but most were being worked on or completed. The throne room had been repaired, but more thrones were being constructed every day. Percy took out his MP3 and put the buds in his ears. Apollo walked by quietly, magically changing the song to Good Girls Go Bad by Cobra Starship. Percy just shrugged and walked forward. He could see a table in the middle of the square. He looked past the person standing alone on one side of the table, noticing a few old faces. Grover, Tyson, Nico, and Thalia were talking excitedly to the person, peering over blueprints. He took out Riptide and sneaked over to where his friends were, darting behind buildings. After a few minutes he had made it, standing in the shadows. He ran forward, uncapping Riptide. He put it over the person's neck, causing her blonde hair to fall all over his arms.

"Hey Percy. I guess you got my message?" Annabeth asked, turning around to face him. She knew he wouldn't even try to scare her once he had the sword out.

"Yeah. What do they want to talk to us about anyways?" Percy asked Annabeth, handing Grover his sword.

"They didn't say, but my mother looked extremely pleased so I think it involves our relationship." Annabeth grabbed his hand, leading him into the throne room.

"Bye, guys." Nico waved, leaning in a little too close to Thalia. ZAP. He clutched his hand in pain, shooting a dirty look at the raven haired demigod.

He looked around, noticing new gods he had never seen sitting in slightly smaller thrones around the 12 Olympians. Hestia waved to them silently, not wanting to anger Zeus yet wanting to tell them she knew they were there.

"Athena, why is it such a big problem?" Zeus asked, confusion apparent in his voice.

"I don't know, let's ask them. Children, come here." Athena turned towards them, still sitting in her seat. She motioned to Poseidon and they both slid off their thrones, going into their human sized form.

"What's this about, Dad?" Percy asked as his father approached.

"Poseidon, I would like you to explain to them as well." Athena said grimly, her eyes peircing Percy's. _Holy Cow. It's like she knows what I'm thinking..... ATHENA!!! ATHENA!! MY DAD DOESN'T HATE YOU!!!! GET THE FREAK OVER IT!!! _Percy thought.

"Perseus." Athena warned, her body starting to shine.

"Forget him. Lord Poseidon, what is this about?" Annabeth asked, her grey eyes peircing Poseidon._ Holy Cow. She has the same effect! I wonder..... DON'T EAT FISH! THEY DON'T LIKE IT!!! I LIKE SUSHI EVERY NOW AND AGAIN, BUT STILL!!!_ Poseidon thought.

"Athena and Hera believe that...um... They think that.... Dionysus, will you say it?" Poseidon asked the younger god.

"They think you guys are trouble together and want you to break up." Dionysus said, catching a grape in his mouth.

"Exactly. I will NOT have my daughter dating an offspring of Poseidon!" Athena exclaimed.

"What's to do about it?" Zeus asked, waving his hands.

"Well, we could have a test, to prove that they are not meant for each other." Aphrodite proposed. She walked calmly off of her throne, retaining her human form.

"Which would be?" Hermes asked, now interested.

"We send them to Miami for a week, my treat. We see how they act with their friends around and in their daily lives. We can see how they would act as a normal couple. I can make the reservations at a hotel for them now. I'm pretty sure Hermes could provide their luggage." Aphrodite motioned.

_He can,_ George said in people's heads.

_Can? He will!!!_, Martha urged. Hermes nodded and ran off of his throne. He transformed into his human form and flew away.

"All in favor out of the Olympians here?" Aphrodite asked. Zeus, Apollo, Hestia, Artemis, Ares, Hepheastus, Poseidon, and Hades all raised their hands. Athena and Hera's hands stayed down.

"Hermes is an understood vote for it." Percy pointed out, squeezing Annabeth's hand. She flinched, then pulled back. She grabbed his hand again, squeezing it. Percy didn't even make a face. She squeezed it again, using both hands. Nothing happened. She shook it up and down, pulling his arm. Still nothing. Finally, she just huffed and stopped. The throne room was filled with laughter.

"Young love." Aphrodite laughed.

"Yes. yes. Let's do this. Go tell your parents and meet back here in twenty minutes." Zeus said after he recovered from his tiny laughing fit. Percy and Annabeth bowed politely. They walked outside, heading to their friends. They were nearly there when bags fell in front of them, each labeled with a different person's name. They picked them up and raced over to their friends. Annabeth won, carrying only one bag. She had dropped all of the others and Percy had slowed down to pick them up.

"No fair! You cheated!" Percy laughed.

"No, I was simply clever enough to make you slow down, Seaweed Brain." Annabeth replied.

"That's why your Wise girl, Wise Girl." Percy set the bags down, grabbing Annabeth by the waist. She pushed him down, rolling on top of him. They kept rolling until Annabeth was on top again.

"Ha!" She said in triumph. Percy quickly rolled over, turning the tables.

"Ha! Boys rule!" Said an eleven year old Nico. He recieved one of Thalia's socks in the face. He picked it up, throwing it at her. She threw it back and took off her other sock.

"Ah! Not a SOCK" Nico laughed. He hit her with it, acting like it was a sword. Thalia picked up her bag, taking out some boxing gloves.

"Cra-- AH!" Nico was pinned. She rolled him over a few times then reached into her bag again. When she got off of him, he was tied up with nylon rope.

"Annabeth, does Thalia always carry boxing gloves and rope?" Percy asked, getting lost in her eyes. The stormy grey clouds revealed everything to him.

"No, but Lord Hermes sure seems to know what to pack." Annabeth replied, drowning in his ocean of eyes. They leaned down, their lips getting closer and closer until they met...Nico's ears.

"Get a room." He said seriously.

"Nico Di Angelo! You just ruined a kiss of the most talked about couple I have ever met!" Aphrodite called, appearing out of nowhere. She marched down the steps, taking off her earrings and throwing them to Grover. Nico realized two things in that moment. First, he just made Aphrodite mad. No big deal. Second, he was tied up between an angry Annabeth, a totally steaming Percy, and a mad goddess. Crap.

"No!" He cried, being pinned down and kicked, punched, and pinched everywhere.

"Wow. Pretty lady pinch hard. I'll go get First Aid kit." Tyson said, running off to get it. A moment later Hades appeared.

"Well, this is fun." Hades said out loud, resting an arm on Thalia's shoulder.

"Stop! Sto-- Ah! Aphrodite!!!" Nico laughed. They were tickling him now.

"Ah. I thought there was going to be pain." Hades sulked back off to his throne. Tyson appeared with the First Aid kit. He got distracted when he saw some gears on the ground and started to play with them.

"I don't get it. First they wanted to kill him. Now, they want to tickle him?" Grover asked, clearly confused.

"Well, he is kinda cute." Thalia said, looking at Nico. His black eyes were filled with laughter, however that was possible. She saw the look on Grover's face and blushed. " I- I mean like it the 'I want to mess up your hair and dress your up' kinda way."

"Right." Grover rolled his eyes.

"Shut up, Satyr."

"So this has nothing to do with the fact that you to are the only single people we know?"

"Quiet, he's eleven! I'm seventeen!"

"Although, in tree years, your about 14. Not that much of a difference between you now, huh?" Grover asked. Thalia took a step forward.

"Where's Tyson with that First Aid kit?" Grover ran away. Thalia sighed and shook her head. She looked over at Nico, watching him roll back and forth on the ground, being tickled as a punishment.

"Sto-Sto-Stop! Ca- Can't! Can't breath!!!" He laughed. Thalia couldn't stand it.

"Is this even legal?" She asked, walking over to them.

"As long as his pants don't come off." Aphrodite replied, tickling Nico's ribs.

"Thalia! No!" Nico screamed, noticing the way she eyed his other set of ribs. He may have been only eleven, but he was muscular.

"Yes. It looks like....FUN!" On the last word, Thalia jumped in, tickling him to death. Finally, Nico stood up and tried to hop away.

"Leave him alone. You guys need to Iris-Message your parents." Thalia instructed. Aphrodite nodded in agreement. She threw a look to Thalia that said 'I know your secret' Thalia blushed, watching Annabeth and Percy walk away. Grover was trying to make Tyson say Hydrogen Peroxide, but failing at it. Aphrodite simply turned and headed back to the throne room. After about ten minutes, they all grouped together in the elevator, having made all the proper calls and preparations. Thalia leaned forward and put her hands over Nico's head, absent-mindedly feeling its smoothness.

"Thalia. I'm scared right now." Nico said.

"Relax, this will be a vacation." Thalia reassured him.

"No, I mean you're hands are on my head." Nico said, reaching up and grabbing her hands. He pulled them off and leaned against the wall, closing his eyes.

"If he falls asleep on the elevator I'll hold it against him for a while. You all know i--" Thalia was cut off as Nico slumped forward, using Thalia's shoulder as a pillow.

"Awkward." Percy, Annabeth, Grover, and even Tyson said quietly. They all laughed at this. They exited the elevator, grabbed their bags and headed outside.

"Now, we just find the airport." Annabeth said confidently.

"Except there's like a million of them in New York." Percy pointed out.

"And we all have to take the same cab." Thalia stated.

"And you guys are all ADHD. You won't be able to concentrate long enough to find it." Grover sighed.

"And, in the off chance we do, we're dyslexic. We can't read it." Nico smiled. Thalia threw a sock at him again. He simply picked it up and put it in her bag.

"What? You don't want me to tickle you again?" Thalia asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It's gonna be a long day." The other's all sighed.


	2. Chapter 2: The High Plane

(( Again, I don't own Percy Jackson or anything. My last story had an OC in it, but none this time!! Okay, this chapter is about the trip up. I had my wisdom teeth taken out about a month ago and remembered what it was like on the pain pills. Then, this idea hit me:))

"All right. We have to go to the JFK in Queens. The fastest way there is subway." Percy said, trying to drive his blue 2011 Mustang.

"I still can't believe your dad gave you this for your birth day." Nico pouted in the back seat. He and Thalia were stuck back there for the time being. Tyson wouldn't fit in the vehicle, so he had to take the bus to the nearest subway station. Grover decided to carpool, so he rode the bus with Tyson.

"Well, when you turn 17, Hades will probably get you a car. Preferrably a black Ferrari." Thalia thought out loud.

"Why are you saying that?" Nico asked.

"Because, that's my dream car, and I know how to hot wire cars." Thalia said, leaning over Nico evilly. She backed up when she saw the look on his face. It was filled with confusion, fear, and some third emotion that Thalia couldn't quiet place.

"All right. Stop scaring him. Percy, we need to turn ahead." Annabeth said, ripping the map away from him. They turned and quickly made it to the subway, met up with Grover and Tyson, and went to Queens.

"Okay. The plane leaves at 4. We have an hour to find JFK, get our tickets, get our luggage and carry on through, go through security, and get on the plane. The note in my bag from Hermes says he booked us all first class. I wonder how?" Grover thought as they exited the subway. They consulted Percy's map again, this time looking for JFK. They found it, rushing inside. It was 3:26. Only 34 minutes left. They raced through, grabbing their tickets from a young god. They didn't even notice who it was. The man smiled to his cell phone, patting it as it hissed. They got their luggage on with no problems. 3:40, they ran into a problem with security. Nico, Annabeth, Tyson, and Grover had enough sense to leave their weapons at home, hoping nothing would happen. Thalia and Percy however.....

"Ma'am, you do know that pepper spray is not allowed on the plane?" The security guard asked after looking through her purse.

"Oh, come on. That's some pepper spray from my dad! I have to keep myself safe from creepers!" She protested, snatching up her purse.

"Didn't know she even carried a purse." Percy sighed. He emptied his pockets, the guard finding his pen.

"Sir, I'm afraid this isn't allowed." The guard tossed the pen aside. Percy looked over at a nearby water fountain, causing it to explode and shoot water on to the guard. He wiggled his eyebrows at Thalia. She got the jist of that motion.

"Oh my gods! The kids who did that just ran into the bathroom next to the fountain!!" She said, faking fear and amazement. The tubby guard ran off, leaving them alone. They gathered their weapons and headed to the plane.

"Finally." Grover sighed.

"What plane do we get on?" Annabeth asked, noticing the lack of a plane and a staircase.

"According to this, the Naughty Baby." Percy read with no difficulty.

"It's in Greek!" Nico realized. He pointedt to a plane with paintings of snakes on the sides. They ran towards it as fast as they could, reading the Greek letters. They jumped on, shutting the door behind them. They looked around for a moment, unsure of where to sit. There were beanbags instead of seats, TVs instead of windows, shag carpeting, and two sleeping snakes on a stick, on top of a sleeping pilot. The pilot woke up, hearing the door slam.

"All right, kiddies. Sit down, relax, and if you mention the Disney movie Hercules, you're as good as rats." Hermes warned.

_I like rats. Rats are tasty._ George bobbed his head on the cadeceus.

"All right now. Um.... they food is in the back, and if you flip through the channels on the TVs, you can find any movie ever made. Please relax and enjoy your flight." Hermes concluded, walking into the cockpit and abruptly shutting the door behind him.

"Shoulda known." Tyson said. He sat down on a rather large bean bag with a slight shake. As in, the plane shook.

"Seriously. Who else but the God of Travelers would send us on a vacation." Percy sighed.

"Who else but the Goddess of Love would let us have this vacation." Annabeth asked, sitting right next to Percy. Nico was forced to sit next to Thalia, feeling his cheeks get uncharacteristically red.

"Nico, are you feeling all right?" Thalia fidgeted in her seat.

"Don't know. Couldn't you scoot close any more?" Nico said, his voice dripping in sarcasm. Thalia took the words harshly, huffing off and heading to the back of the plane. They took off quickly, flying high above the clouds. Percy nervously held Annabeth's hand.

"Don't tell me you're scared of heights too." Annabeth taunted, scooting closer to him and putting his head on her chest.

"No. I'm scared of being shot out of the sky by Zeus." Percy looked around, trying to find all rubber objects so he could put them over and around him.

"He agreed to this trip. I'm pretty sure he won't." She said, one hand rubbing his hair. The other was still gripped to his hand. They sat that like for a few minutes before they fell asleep. Tyson sat there, his one brown eye looking at them.

"Grover, why they sit like that?" Tyson asked his goat buddy.

"Their in love." Grover answered in a dreamy state. He leaned over and took a bite out of the floor.

"Love?"

"Yeah. It's this warm feeling you get when you see someone, or the feeling like you can tell them all your secrets but never be worried about them telling anyone else. You feel like you have to watch what you say, so you don't sound stupid around the person. It's the feeling off being as calm as can be around them, yet you have the biggest adrenaline rush of your life." Nico said from his beanbag as he read a comic book.

"Yeah. Nico? How do you know that?" Grover asked, now suspicious.

"I've heard people explaining it a lot." Nico lied. He got up and walked to the back, wondering what happened to Thalia.

"Weird. We talk about love and he goes to see Thal." Grover laughed. Tyson got the joke after a minute and laughed as well. Even Hermes, George, and Martha got the joke.

"Thalia? You okay?" Nico asked. He looked around, finding cupboards full of food and a refrigerator with an endless supply of food. He looked down, noticing Thalia's little bed. She had apparently found a black bean bag. Nico knew that they all had blankets in their bags. Nico's was black like Thalia's. Percy and Annabeth had grey and blue, Tyson had red, and Grover had green.

"Hey, Nico!" Thalia said, her speech slurred slightly.

"What's wrong with your speech?" Nico asked. He looked down and noticed the bottle of pills on top of her blanket.

"I took a pain pill. I thought it would help me. My head was hurting, but now I feel all better." She threw the blanket off, trying to get up.

"Grover! How long ago was Thalia's wisdom teeth surgery?" Nico asked.

"About three days ago, why?" Grover replied.

"Is she supposed to still be on medication?" Nico shook the bottle.

"Yeah. Just until tomorrow." Grover answered. Tyson was snoring, signaling his nap time.

"All right. See?" Thalia stood up, quickly falling into Nico's arms.

"Are you all right?" He asked, now worried.

"Oh no! Look what happened purely on accident!" She laughed.

"You stole that from Family Guy." He smirked. He laid her down, tucking her in under her blanket.

"No! I don't wanna sleep alone." Thalia pouted, crossing her arms and sticking out her lip.

"Yes. You will. You're dad would kill whoever laid with you, and we don't have any teddy bears." Nico pointed out. Thunder rolled outside in agreement.

"AHH! THUNDER!!" Percy woke up, screaming.

"Hush up! That's just a warning." Hermes said to Percy. He fell back asleep, letting the ship fly itself. Percy laid back down into Annabeth's arms.

"Funny. I always thought the girl laid in the guy's arms." Nico turned his head sideways. Thalia had somehow found a bow tie and a brown wig, throwing them onto Nico.

"Teddy." She pouted.

"No. My gods you're high. How many did you take?" He asked. The bottle said to take two.

"Well, I took two. Then I felt good. So, I took another one and another one." She said, grabbing his leg.

"YOU TOOK FOUR PAIN PILLS?!" He said in astoundment. Hermes rushed to them, wanting to make sure everything was all right.

"Okay. She should be okay, if not a little dazed for the next couple hours. I think we should do whatever we want for the next few hours. She does have lightning power, and we have nowhere to go but down in a plane." He said, patting his hands together and walking back to the cockpit.

"Great!" Thalia tugged, causing him to fall onto her. He tried to get up, but she threw the blanket over him and tucked him in.

"Pedophile...." Nico whispered. He rolled over into a more comfortable position, his face towards Thalia's. He didn't notice how tired he was until he was under the blanket. He had calmed down considerably and realized everything, including the one thing he needed to tell Thalia.

"Thalia?" Nico whispered to her.

"Hmm?"

"There's something I gotta tell you."

"What?"

"I want beef jerky." He said, his mind going to mush. _Smooth._ George said to him in his head.

"Me too!" She held him closer, thunder rumbling loudly.

"Just trying to please your beloved daughter." He said to the thunder.


	3. Chapter 3: Hotel Motel Holiday Inn!

(( Remember how I said I hate it when people pair up Nico and Thalia JUST because they are the only single characters left.... aside from Tyson? I stand by that. But, I'm writing this as a favor to a friend, so....... they are together. Any one notice how much fun Disney's Hercules pokes at the gods? Last chapter was full of mushy, emotional stuff. This one will have half as much of that. And, some funny. Enjoy.))

"Nico! Wake up! Are you dead? Oh my gods! Annabeth! She killed him! She's going to hang his butt over a mantle like she said she would after his April Fool's day pranks!" Percy yelled to the front of the plane. Nico sat up, rubbing his eyes and stretching. Annabeth ran to them, feeling Nico's head. Thalia sat up, feeling better but still a bit on the pain medication.

"Hey you guys. Will one of you get me a snack?" Thalia asked, stretching her self out on the bean bag. She threw the blanket up and walked to the front.

"Pain pills. You guys were asleep. I want cookies." He patted Percy on the shoulder before getting up.

"What? We're the flight attendants or something?" Percy asked, shaking his head. He grabbed sodas and cookies and walked back to the front. Grover, Tyson, Thalia, and Nico sat in a circle, waiting for the snack.

"Thanks." Grover said, reaching for a soda. He opened the soda and drank some of it down, then bit off the top.

"So now what? We still have about an hour." Nico grabbed two cookies, holding one in each hand. He bit into the first one and took a cold root beer from Percy's arms.

"Question Game?" Thalia suggested, swiping Nico's other cookie. He simply shrugged, taking a sip of his soda.

"Why not?" Percy agreed.

"We'll go in a circle. First Thalia, then Nico, Percy, me, Grover, Tyson." Annabeth nodded, as if agreeing to her own plan.

"Well, you guys wanna start now?" Thalia asked, winking.

"Does Percy know how to play?" Nico turned to Percy.

"I'm the one who taught you, or did you forget?"

"Will you guys stop playing?" Annabeth asked, laughing.

"Does this can taste funny to you?" Grover pushed the can towards Tyson.

"You want me to eat can?" Tyson asked, clearly enjoying this game.

"Seriously Grover, what type of satyr would do that?" Thalia swiped another cookie from Nico, just as he was about to bite into it.

"Hey, wasn't that my cookie Thalia?"

"Why did you take his cookie?"

"Maybe it's because Thalia likes him or something like that?"

"I swear I didn't tell anyone!!" Grover said, seeing the look in Thalia's eyes. He realized what had happened and backed out of the circle.

"Why did goat leave?" Tyson asked, blinking his eye.

"Does Nico want that cookie back?" Thalia brought her finger to her lips.

"If you throw up, won't your wisdom teeth surgery cuts get infected?" Nico asked, actually pondering this.

"Annabeth, do you know?"

"Is Percy wearing boxers or briefs?" Annabeth turned to Tyson.

"Briefs." He and Hermes answered. The gang threw a look into the cockpit where Hermes simply blinked once and backed out, joining Grover at a TV.

"What are they watching?" Thalia asked, seeing all the explosions.

"Maybe an action movie?" Nico's eyes grew big as he saw blood splatter the screen.

"I think we all know by now it's a horror flick, right?" Percy asked.

"I quit. This is annoying after a while." Annabeth leaned against Percy's shoulder subconsciously.

"Maybe it's a bloody Batman movie?" Thalia guessed.

"What's Batman?" Nico genuinely asked Percy.

"You don't know what Batman is?" Percy asked him, eyes wide.

"Of course not! He's from World War II." Thalia cursed and backed out slowly, taking a cookie and a soda with her.

"Is Batman a person?" Nico asked. It was now down to him and Percy.

"He runs around fighting crime with a kid my age, doesn't he?"

"Doesn't that make him a pedophile?"

"Why would it?"

"Percy, is that a condom poking out of your pocket?"

"It's a candy wrapper. Why won't you get your mind out of the gutter?"

"Didn't you just lose? And, wouldn't my mind be homeless then? Do you want my mind to be a hobo? WHY PERCY, WHY?!" Nico was faking tears at this point, leaving everyone else in tears. Of course, most people were in tears of laughter. Thalia's was because she didn't have a cookie.

"All right. We have 30 minutes left. When we land, you guys are to exit in a calm and orderly fashion. Find your Holiday Inn Express, and go to your , I will pick up Juniper on the way back and bring her and her bush to you." Hermes looked over at Nico and Percy as they laughed at that last sentence.

"Love is nothing to laugh at. It's why you get this tri--" Hermes stopped, suddenly understanding their perverted humor. They checked their bags, making sure they didn't leave any thing on board. The group quickly ate the rest of the cookies and dranks their soda's, leaving the cans to Grover. They landed and caught a taxi downtown, heading in the direction of their hotel. They entered quickly, picking up their key cards at the front desk.

"Let's see. We have room 201." Annabeth read with some difficulty.

"202." Nico sighed. He had to share a room with Thalia. He was scared, knowing why she had quit the Hunters.

"203." Grover said, half wondering if he could nibble on his key card.

"205." Tyson read. ((Yes, he can read. Tyson isn't an idiot. He's a Cyclops.))

They arrived at their rooms, each going inside. Percy and Annabeth found themselves in the one room they hated in hotels, yet knew deep down that Aphrodite would choose this one. The walls were decorated a bright pink, little hearts everywhere. Their dresser was near an absolutely huge flat screen TV that was suspended on the wall. The canopy bed sat directly across from it, shaped like a heart.

"Well, sleeping arrangements are gonna suck." Annabeth sighed.

"Why?" Percy asked, not caring about that.

"Well, we're almost 18 and I do know that Nico wasn't fibbing about the condom in your pocket." Annabeth reached in to his pocket, taking the contents.

"Yeah. I was going to blow it up and put water in it. Then, after I freeze it, I was gonna throw it out the window." Percy shrugged.

"Immaturity in it's best work." Annabeth hugged him, loving everything about him. They unpacked and laid down for a moment, watching TV. Percy clapped, turning off the lights.

"How did you know that would happen?" Annabeth asked.

"I guessed." Percy laughed. He heard something like paper underneath Annabeth as she turned towards him.

"Seaweed Brain, didn't you look under the covers for anything while I unpacked?" She asked, picking up a letter.

"No. I also didn't not look while you unpacked your underwear." Percy joked, recieving a light punch in the arm. He opened the letter, not caring who it was addressed to.

_Dear Johnson and friends,_

_ Change of plans. Every day for the next 2 weeks, we will send you a letter, asking for you do complete a task or answer a question or solve a riddle as an extra twist. Today is my day, so go find a teen/kid club and party. Party from 6 to 1_

_ Signed,_

_ Dionysus._

Percy let Annabeth read the letter, clearly not caring.

"I'll go shower." He said, getting up.

"I'll change." Annabeth jumped up, going over Percy on purpose, and made her way to the dresser.

_**Over in Nico's and Thalia's room...**_

"Wow. Tailor made." Nico gasped. They walls were all black, with dim lighting. They looked around for a moment, taking it the room. The dresser stood a against a wall, the TV hanging on the wall across from the bed. The bed was what caught their eyes. It was a canopy bed, with grey curtains above it. They looked in the refrigerator, finding cookies and soda and other sweets. They looked in the cabinets, finding beef jerky and candy and junk food galore.

"I'm in love." Nico said, running over to the bed, throwing down his bags, and bouncing up and down on it.

"Nico! Don't do that. You'll mess up the bed!" Thalia instructed, setting down her bags and going after him. She jumped up on the bed and felt strangely addicted to the feeling. She did it again, and again, and again until she was jumping around as hyper as Nico.

"See? It's fun!" Nico laughed, flipping into the air.

"How did you.... The beds must be enchanted!" Thalia reasoned, looking up and finding an long hole where a canopy top should have been.

"I bet you everyone else's are too!" Nico cartwheeled through the air. Thalia took an experimental twist, finding herself almost weightless.

"Oh, yeah. We'll definetly have to tell them about this. For once, I think I like Aphrodite's version of a vacation." Thalia laughed, bouncing around everywhere. After a few minutes they laid down, tired. They hadn't even bothered to close their door. They got under the covers, as if they were little kids, and fell asleep. Thalia didn't even notice when Nico's arms wrapped around her in his sleep. Percy and Annabeth ran in a moment later. They woke the couple up, causing them to scramble away from each other, clearly embarrased.

"Guys! Get changed, we have to party." Percy shook them. Annabeth hurriedly ran to the dresser, tossing Nico a pair of black skinny jeans, a grey shirt that had a light bulb on it and read GENIUS. She picked up a black fedora and threw it at him, swiftly landing on his head. Thalia got up, picking out her own clothes. Nico slipped into the bathroom to change. Percy explained what was happening while he changed.

"All right." Nico exited the bathroom, looking pretty good.

"Wow. We finally let him into the 21st century." Thalia said, looking him over. She carried her clothes with her into the bathroom in a hurry.

"All right. We need to go tell Grover and Tyson." Percy rushed out of the room, dragging Annabeth in tow.

"What time is it?" Thalia asked Nico after the door shut.

"6:15." Nico glanced at his watch.

"Ugh. Why did he have to wake us up now? We could have a few more minutes to sleep." Thalia's head popped out of the door. "Toss me a comb." She caught the purple comb and dipped her head back inside.

"Well, this is a new place for us. We have no idea where to look or what one even looks like." Nico replied, walking over to the door and leaning against the wall beside it. He blended in with the shadows well.

"I can see the sign from here." Thalia walked out. She was wearing a black shirt that fit her rather tightly. Her grey skinny jeans looked good on her, her checkered belt slanted on her hips. Nico stood there for a moment, dazed. Thalia looked around, her black hair swaying. Nico stepped out, grabbing her shoulder. She jumped a bit, reaching for her pepper spray.

"What the Hades!" Nico raced to the bed, hiding underneath it.

"Sorry. You scared me. Let's go." Thalia held out her hand, pulling him out from under the bed. They went into the elevator, and met Percy and Annabeth downstairs.

"Guys, there's a club across the street." Thalia told them.

"Really?" Grover asked, exiting the second elevator with Tyson. They were wearing tuxedos, but Tyson's was a lot larger.

"Well, let's go. Oh, and by the way, this is a kids club. Not Mission Impossible or a secret mission or something." Nico chided.

"Whatever." Grover ran outside and across the street, barely avoiding cars. The others followed, paid their way in, and stood in awe at the bar.

"Wow." Nico said, looking at all the lights.

"Holy Crap." The others said.


	4. Chapter 4: Break Your Neck Dancing

((Wow. You guys really like the idea of Nico and Thalia, huh? Well, this chapter is about the club. Now, this isn't a real place, but someone should make it a real club!!!! That would be the greatest idea Florida has ever come out with. Except Gatorade..... well, a tie with Gatorade. Wow. I already made my reader laugh! Oh, and I know nothing of what Nico and Grover do, only what I've seen at school dances. Don't get angry. WHAT?! YOU'RE ANGRY?! GO TO YOUR ROOM, NOW!!))

"Holy Crap." They said again. New Adult contemporary music was blasting, laser lights were flying around, bouncing off of walls and people. Dry ice machine were in a corner, shooting fog into the air. Kids were dancing, talking, or playing games. A bar sat in one corner, across from the dry ice. A teen was running back and forth between people, trying to fill their cups or hand out candy.

"Wow. What did I miss in the Lotus?" Nico asked, his eyes growing as wide as could be. He reached into his pocket, now remembering he had some sunglasses in them. He pushed them onto his face and smiled lightly, as if this new world amused him.

"Whoa, Nico. You look like a playah!" Grover said, pumping his fist.

"A what?" Nico tilted his head. Annabeth grabbed Nico's ears and shook her head. Percy grabbed her ears and shook her head. Thalia grabbed Percy's ears and pulled. She pulled hard.

"I pity the fool who had to get his ears pulled by her." Nico imitated Mr. T, barely holding back laughter.

"Hey!" Percy moved his ears out of her grasp.

"Good. Now, are we just going to stand around with our mouths open, or are we gonna party?" Thalia asked.

"But, the letter said from 6 to 1. It's 6:20. We already missed the start." Annabeth pointed out, her ears still being held. Percy wriggled her ear lobes, making them dance. Nico raised an eyebrow at Percy, which was hard to see under his fedora and above his sunglasses. Percy let go and shrugged.

"So, let's go from 6:20 to 1:20. Same amount of time. We may have to go to an actual club though. I think this place closes at 11. I mean, kids can't party all night." Thalia pointed a few times at her watch.

"She's right." Grover said, heading onto the dance floor. Tyson went over to the dry ice machine and started to tamper with it. Somehow, nobody noticed.

"I'm going. And, I'm bringing Grandpa here with me." Thalia pulled Nico away from Percy and Annabeth.

"What do I do?" Nico mouthed to Percy.

"Hide. Or dance." Percy laughed. Nico frowned on the outside, but was grinning, like the egomaniacal master mind he was, on the inside. But then, he realized the horrible truth. He didn't know how to dance.

_Well, there are those two dances that Grover taught me for emergencies only. And then I learned one in the Underworld from some guy with tattoos and a bandanna._ Nico thought. He escaped from Thalia and found Grover dancing with a bunch of kids Annabeth's age.

"Grover, is this an emergency?" Nico asked. He moved his hands in circles. Grover stopped dancing immediately. He pulled Nico to the side, where Tyson was making shapes appear out of the dry ice machines. Children watched as the fog drifted by lazily, like clouds.

"I know I said emergencies, but we may have to spend the next...." Grover consulted his watch," 4 and a half hours in here. Try the other one." He went back to his group. Nico reached deep down into his core, grabbing every ounce of courage he had and went up to the bar, asking the teen behind it where song requests could be made. He pointed to another teen standing in a corner, hiding behind a DJ station with massive speakers. Nico drifted back there, hiding in the crowd until he was three quarters of the way there.

"Just for the heck of it." He assured himself. He put his hands together, making a gun with his fingers. He ducked and rolled, singing the Mission Impossible theme song. He turned around a few times, still crouching down. He took his fedora and threw it, as if testing for lasers of some kind. The teen gave him an odd stare, almost like recognition and joy at the same time.

"Hey, can you play..." Nico whispered the song into the teen's ear, recieving a nod and a grin. Nico looked around for a second, trying to find Thalia. Then, he was abruptly tackled.

**OVER BY PERCY AND ANNABETH...**

"So..... Annabeth. Do you want to..." Percy asked nervously, motioning to the dance floor. _I can fight monsters, control water, save the world, kiss my girlfriend underwater, yet I can't ask her to dance._ He thought.

"Why not? I'm already sleeping with you." She said, grabbing his arm and pulling him away. A slow song came up, as if on cue.

"You didn't mean sleeping like.... did you?" Percy asked, now wondering if Annabeth's mind might be a hobo soon.

"No. I meant that in a 'We have to share a bed and we are a couple, so why shouldn't I dance with you?'" Annabeth nodded, her grey eyes traveling up his body. Percy put his arms around her waist, pulling her in tight. She put her arms around his neck and they danced for a minute or two. The song ended, replaced by a different song. Annabeth's eyes lit up. She leaned in close to Percy and stood on her tiptoes. Percy bent his neck down and his lips got closer to hers. They were about to meet when Annabeth pulled away.

"Catch me if you can." She said, running off.

"Just like Grover and the naiads." Percy shook his head. He raced off after her

_Well I took a walk around the world_

_to ease my troubled mind._

_I left my body laying some where in the sands of time_

_I watched the world_

_from the dark side of the moon_

"Percy." Annabeth shouted, racing in the opposite direction. He chased after her, having to jump over a kid who was picking up cake from the floor. Percy stopped immediately.

"Cake? They have cake?" Percy asked himself. He slapped himself, snapping out of it. _What's sweeter? Annabeth or cake?_ Once side of him said. _Well, we've only tasted Annabeth a few times, but cake is good too._ The other half said. Percy pushed the second voice out, trying to think.

"Percy." Annabeth ran right behind him, tugging at his pants. They fell, revealing his dolphin print boxers.

"Not cool!!" Percy picked up his pants and raced after her. ((Wait.... That sounds like something Batman would do to a Robin in a wig....oh well....)) Percy buttoned his pants as he ran, not caring if his fly was undone. Annabeth stood beside a boy who looked familiar, but Percy couldn't quite place it. He ran past him and grabbed Annabeth, dragging her down to the floor as they fell together. She stood up, dusting herself off. Percy smiled and dragged her back down. Then, to the words ' _If I go crazy then will you still call me Superman' _they kissed in the middle of a teenager's paradise.

**BACK TO NICO.....**

"Nico!" The black haired girl said, picking him up. She picked up his hat and sunglasses and put them on his head. She took the sunglasses and slipped them on, hiding her eyes from him.

"Thalia, I know it's you." Nico sighed.

"No, you don't." The girl laughed.

"You're wearing one of the stickers they were giving out up front and you wrote your real name on it in Greek." Nico pointed out. Thalia plucked the "What's up, I'm ________" sticker off of her shirt and put it on a random kid.

"Oh, yeah. You're Thalia." Nico smiled. Then, his song started. He motioned to Grover, requesting that the satyr come to him. Grover danced over, feeling completely at home.

"What's up?" He asked dumbly.

"I think you should go first." Nico smiled deviously.

_Let it Rock_

_Let it Rock_

_Let it Rock._

_I see your dir-_

_ty face, high behind your collar._

"All right." Grover said. He took off his tuxedo, revealing a different set of clothes.

"Grover, please don't." Thalai said, noticing his wool cap in the pocket of his South Pole jeans. Grover smiled and slipped it on. He spread out his arms, making room in the center of the room for himself. Then, he did something that stunned the young demigod. He started to break dance. And, to top that, was pretty good at it. He flipped around for a few beats, if not only to show off. Nico smiled, shaking his head.

"Nico. What are you..." Percy and Annabeth both ran by them to watch the spectacle.

"What are you guys doing here?" Nico asked, now a little nervous.

"Well, we heard that some cool dude was break dancing so we came over to wat-- HOLY CRAP!! THAT'S GROVER!!" Percy's jaw dropped.

"Yeah. Nico, top that!" Grover came up, beads of sweat caming off of his arms. The song had ended, now replaced by 'New Divide' by Linkin Park. He took another cap from his pocket and handed it to Nico. Nico took a deep breath and grabbed it. The crowd gave a cheer, ready to see anything.

"Percy, Annabeth. Could you do me a favor? If I live through this without being shamed to death, buy me some candy." Nico stood in the middle of the circle, doing as Grover had taught him. He did the Robot.

"Boo!"

"Hey, get that weak stuff outta here!" Other complaints flew at him, making him mad. He started to actually break dance, trying to get the crowd to shut up so he could think. It wasn't really a break dancing, hip hop type song, but it was good enough for him. He flipped around a bit, copying Grover. The crowd complained again. He threw every move he had out there, trying to please them. _Wow. This makes me seem very greedy and wishing for attention. I think it's time to do the big one._ A voice said in his head. He flipped, doing a one handed hand stand, then, his head made contact with the floor. He started spinning, faster and faster, the fog from the dry ice machines giving the illusions that his body was smoking. He finally popped up again at the end of the song, barely standing.

_Waking up at the start of the end of the world_

_but its feeling just like any other morning before_

_Now I wonder what my life is gonna mean if it's gone._

_The cars are moving at like half hour a mile and I_

_started staring at the passengers who waved good bye._

Nico took off the cap and tossed it back at Grover, taking his hand and shaking it tightly. Then, he made his way over to Thalia, Percy, and Annabeth.

"I want my candy now. And, an asparin." Nico laughed tiredly. He made his way over to the bar and put his head down on the counter. The group joined them, including Tyson who had been tinkering with the speakers. The entire room now vibrated with sound.

"One pack of Skittles, three packs of Reeses Pieces, one M&Ms, two Twizzlers, and six root beer floats. Do you have Tylenol or something?" Percy said, laying down two twenty dollar bills. The teen nodded and ducked under the counter, finding six glasses and the candy. He scooped Vanilla ice cream into each ice cold glass and poured root beer from a soda hose. He put the candy down and grabbed the money, bringing Percy $3.62 in change.

"Thanks." Percy grabbed the candy and sorted them out. Nico got a pack of Skittles and Twizzlers. Grover munched tiredly on a M&M wrapper, not caring that the candy fell into this lap. Tyson opened his Reeses Peices and poured them all on his tongue at once, smiling like an idiot. Annabeth opened hers and Percy's, taking one piece at a time into her mouth. Thalia sat speechless as Nico took his Tylenol. He washed it down with some root beer, ice cream, and a few Twizzlers. He opened her Twizzlers and pushed them in front of her. He grabbed her hand, slipped it into the bag, and shut her mouth.

"Don't act so surprised. What did you think Grover and I were doing over the summer with a stereo and an empty Hades cabin? Don't answer that." Nico laughed. The group sat there, talking about what all they had done with their lives lately until the music stopped.

"All right guys, here's a special announcement. If you're a regular here, you'd know that every day of summer vacation, if we collect over 600 dollars in admission, which is 5 dollars per person, then we stay open all night and day that week. If you're not a regular, you know now. Congrats, party goers, we've had over 120 people come in here today!!!!" The DJ announced over the microphone. The crowd whistled and cheered, then started requestiing songs. The music turned back on and dances continued. The demigods, satyr, and Cyclops partied till 2, just to be careful to avoid failing the test. They trudged back to the hotel, not having to worry about traffic at 2 in the morning. They all went to their rooms, not caring what they did next. They all agreed to change and say their thoughts about the club in a few minutes. Percy changed into his light blue button up pajama set, with Annabeth wearing a rather revealing night gown. Nico let Thalia change into her usual t-shirt and shorts as he dressed in the only pair of pajamas he could find that protected his rather sore head. He marched outside and waited in the hallway. Grover appeared in a robe, trying not to laugh. Tyson walked out in a deep blue button up pajama shirt. He didn't understand what was so funny about Nico's pajamas. Percy and Annabeth walked outside, letting their laughter out when they say Nico. Then, finally, Thalia walked out, turned her head and assessed the situation. Nico was wearing a furry, black, feety pajama. The zipper went from his stomach to his chest, where it stopped and hid underneath a green ribbon. The shirt collar became a hood that had ears.

"Teddy bear!!!" Thalia tackled Nico, dragging him into the room. They heard a lot of screaming and bouncing after that.

"We all know the number for 911, right?" Annabeth asked. The teenagers nodded.

"Well, good night guys." Percy grabbed Annabeth and put her over his shoulder, carrying her back into the honeymoon suite. He closed the door behind him and locked it. Nico and Thalia could be heard in their room.

"Wow. They tell me to get my mind out of the gutter. They probably thought we were doing it!" Nico laughed as he cartwheeled through the air. Thalia met him up there, bouncing off the boy's legs.

"Maybe all their minds should be hobos." Thalia yawned, falling back onto the bed. She picked up the covers and slipped under them, falling asleep. Nico softly landed on the bed. He looked over at Thalia, still smiling in her sleep. He slipped under the covers and wrapped her in his arms.

"Good night." Percy and Nico said in the same instant, knowing what the other was about to do. They both leaned over, kissing thier girlfriend, or unofficial relationship partner as it is in Nico's case, on the forehead.

((Wow. I'm pretty fluffy. You guys are probably wondering why the focus of this is going from Percabeth to Thalico. Well, it'll all make sense on chapter 6.))


	5. Chapter 5: McWayne Center Here we Come!

(( Yeah. I actually read my reviews. Well, lifeisabook and livelaugheatpie are right. This is messed up. Why would Thalia care for Nico? I mean, An 11 year old and a 15 year old? That's almost at the Batman and Robin level. But, what if Thalia didn't quit until after Nico turned 14? Technically, she would be 15, Percy would be around 18, and everything would be less....weird. I am writing this for a friend of mine, so.... I don't care!!! But, I will try to change the way they act towards each other from awkward gross to awkward cute, if I get three people to vote on that. Plus, more constructive critism would be nice. Just saying 'Aw, Thalia and Nico are so cute' doesn't quite help out. Maybe something like 'I like *insert what you like*, but maybe if you could *insert idea here*' All right? Now, after this chapter, there will be a lot more of Percy and Annabeth. I don't own Percy Jackson, Applebee's, or The McWayne Center. Here's chapter 5.))

Nico woke up late, still in his teddy bear pajamas. He looked around for a moment, not finding anyone. He looked over at the TV and saw a yellow post it note stuck to it.

_Nico, went to get breakfast in the dining room with everyone. You were OUT! Couldn't wake you, so left._

_Thalia._

"That's nice." He shook his head sadly. He took off his hood and poked his head. He winced because of the soreness, but didn't seem to care much. He took a shower and slipped on a pair of blue jeans and a black t-shirt. He grabbed his wallet and headed down the hall. He walked into the elevator and pushed the lobby button and stood still, trying to listen to the elevator music because it sounded familiar. Right as the door was going to close, a hand shot into the door, stopping them. The greenish tinge of the hand's nails made him jump. He opened the door and was hug tackled.

"Nico!" The elfish girl said, pulling a wagon behind her. It was tied to a rope around her waist.

"Juniper!!! What's up with the wagon?" Nico asked, pointing to the little red object. A large plant sat on it in a ceramic pot.

"I have to carry my bush in it. I can't go too far from my life source, you know." She moved the wagon into a corner of the elevator and sat down beside her bush.

"Are you looking for Grover?" Nico doubted she knew of last nights events, nor the location of her boyfriend.

"Yeah. Actually, I tried to find him last night after Lord Hermes dropped me off here, but I didn't find him. So, I just went outside and slept in the garden." Juniper shook her head, causing a few flower petals to fall out of her hair.

"Oh. My. Gods. Juniper, you have a cocoon in your hair!" Nico smiled, pointing at it. She looked up, now noticing it. She lifted her hands to her hair, as if she was going to rip it out, but decided against it.

"Oh, well. If I do that, there will be one less butterfly in the world, one less butterfly, hundreds of less caterpillars. And, caterpillars are a big part of the food chain. So, I guess I'm actually helping the enviroment by letting this thing hatch in my hair. It's not coming near my bush though. I've seen what those babies do to the bushes their eggs are laid on." She got up off of her wagon and bobbed the cocoon up and down on a finger. The elevator finally dinged, signaling their arrival. They walked out of the elevator, dragging the bush behind them.

"So, where are we going?" Juniper stopped playing with the cocoon for a moment long enough to ask.

"Well, everyone's getting breakfast in here." Nico replied, walking into the dining room. He immediately stopped his friends. Not because Percy and Annabeth were argueing over some slip of paper, or that Thalia was shooting sparks onto a spoon out of boredom, or that Grover was eating his plate. No, what really caught his eyes was that Tyson had built a miniature catapult out of utensils and was attacking everything on his plate with it. Oranges, grapes, pieces of pancakes, even the occasional packet of jelly shot into his mouth.

"Juniper!" Grover set down his half eaten plate and pounced on her and her bush.

"Easy, Grover!" Juniper laughed as he hugged her to death. Well, he would have, if a grape hadn't been thrown into his hair and landed on a horn. Thalia smiled contently, as if that was all according to some plan. Nico took his place next to her and Percy, swiping a donut off of her plate.

"So, what's on today's agenda?" He asked, lazily munching into the chocolate donut.

"Well, I got two tasks today. The first one is from Apollo. He wants us to go do karoake at some Applebee's. The second, is from Hephaestus. He wants us to go to the McWayne Science Center in Birmingham, Alabama." Percy said, pushing the letter over to him. Nico nearly spat out his donut.

"But, that's like a 1000 miles away! How are we going to get there in one day?" Nico asked. Then, Percy pulled something out of his pocket.

"Where did you get one?" Nico asked, knowing what it was.

"I had a request put in. I did some favors, and now I have three, for emergencies only. I think this is an emergency." Percy tossed the Stygian ice whistle in between his hands.

"So, we hop on Mrs. O'Leary, shadow travel to Birmingham, come back here, and go to Applebee's?" Nico asked.

"Yes, and no. You see, Mrs. O'Leary can't travel with more than 5 people. So, we were hoping you could shadow travel someone to the center on your own. Then, we go to this great mall called the Galeria in Birmingham. We could take a cab or rent a car. Then, we could go eat at an Applebee's for dinner around 8:30 and then travel back here to go to sleep." Annabeth explained. She picked up her fork and forced it down onto Percy's plate, stealing his pancake. He gave her a serious look and she leaned forward and kissed him. He turned back to Nico, waiting for his agreement.

"All right. I'll do it. Thalia?" Nico asked, finishing his donut.

"Fine. But, don't expect me to do anything. I'm not on the pill like I was last night." Thalia said, picking up her spoon. She poked it at Nico, causing his hair to stand straight up. Annabeth and Percy took a spit take, causing the younger couple to duck in their chairs.

"Not that pill!" Nico said defensively.

"Mind hobos." Thalia rolled her eyes.

"All right, I need to go fix my hair now and then we will shadow travel." Nico got up. Then, he noticed that Tyson was playing with an orange peel over on his plate.

"Full." Tyson said, noticing his look.

"Well, let's take it and plant it in Juniper's bush pot. It'll help it grow, since we have about 11 more days here. Okay, big guy?" Grover asked as he grabbed the peel. Tyson simply nodded. Grover slipped it off of the table and started to scoop a handful of dirt out of the pot. During that moment, Percy took the catapult and put a grape on the end. He shot it, aiming for Nico but ended up hitting Annabeth.

"You wanna go?" She asked, standing up out of her seat.

"Yeah." Percy stood up, but tripped. Over a flat surface. Annabeth rolled her eyes and pinned him to the ground.

"Wow. We know who wears the pants in that relationship." Juniper giggled. Then, they started rolling around.

"Dude! There are minors here! And Annabeth, Tyson is your future brother-in-law!" Nico laughed. He grabbed Thalia and headed up to their room. They went inside and Thalia began to change. Nico got on the bed and started to cartwheel through the air.

"Wait. I'm a boy. When did I learn to cartwheel?" Nico immediately stopped. He hid behind the door again, wanting to surprise Thalia. She came out, wearing a Panic! At The Disco t-shirt and some black skinny jeans. Nico jumped out, grabbing her shoulders. She turned around, shocking him again. His hair was still standing up, but now it was going in every direction possible. He sighed and walked into the bathroom, trying to comb down his hair. Thalia was on a ball on the floor, laughing her butt off. Nico finished combing his hair down and walked over to her, picking her up and putting her in a chair.

"What? Since when could you pick me up?" She demanded.

"Since I was twelve. You'd be surprised how strong you get fighting monsters." Nico stuck out his tongue. Thalia lashed out, grabbing his cheeks.

"Apparently you didn't got much faster." She teased. Nico simply took her hands off of his face and grabbed his jacket.

"We should probably get doing now." Thalia agreed, taking the hint. They took the elevator, exited the hotel, and spotted their friends in the parking lot, standing near a HUGE dog. The dog lifted it's head, smelling the air. Percy turned around, pointed to them and nodded. The dog ran towards them. Thalia backed up, knowing what would happen next.

"Mrs. O'Leary! Stop licking me!" Nico laughed. The massive hell hound looked at him oddly, as if to say 'Where have you been?". Nico simply patted her on the nose and walked over to the group.

"All right. Meet us at the entrance. I'll tell Mrs. O'Leary to get hide somewhere, and we'll go in. Now, this place is kinda pricy. $18 for an adult ticket. So....Thalia and Nico..... make sure you bend your knees down low as we buy our badges." Annabeth explained.

"If it's $18 for an adult ticket....then that's already....$90!!!" Nico said in amazement.

"Yeah. All right, everyone on my dog." Percy said, mounting the hell hound. Annabeth slid in behind him, holding onto his chest tightly. Grover and Juniper hopped up, setting the wagon on Tyson's lap as he jumped on. They ran into a Lexus, vanishing as they hit it's shadow. Nico grabbed Thalia's hand and ran towards the Lexus. Then, at the last minute, Thalia stopped.

"Wait!" Thalia stopped, looking very serious.

"What?" Nico asked, slightly startled.

"Can we take the Lexus with us?" Thalia smiled innocently. Nico rolled his eyes, grabbed her, and jumped into the shadow. They arrived a second later at the McWayne Center in Birmingham, Alabama. Percy was waving bye to Mrs. O'Leary as she bounded off.

"Ready?" Annabeth asked the group. They all nodded in reply and entered the Center. Now, the first thing you notice is the Vulcan. It's a large machine that sends balls spiraling on a journey to a miniature of the Vulcan cast iron statue. The swirl around in a funnel, riding rails, bouncing off of pads, running down wind chimes. It's fun to watch, but the group only stopped for a minute. They walked up to the register and ordered their badges.

"Five adults and 2 kids. For the Imax and expedition thing." Percy tapped on the counter. The woman behind it slipped the purple tags towards him.

"That'll be 122 dollars. Here are your movie tickets. The Bugs movie starts at 1:30." They paid and walked away, allowing Thalia and Nico to straighten up.

"All right. Let's do some exploring and--Holy crap." Grover stopped short. If you've ever seen a park, you know what chaotic children look like. Now, add tons of fun filled activities like playing with pool balls, a water fountain that shoots foam balls into the air, a hurricane simulator, a few laser games, and other cool scientific things. Welcome to the McWayne Center.

"All right. I suggest we split up. Tyson, you're a big boy. You can go on your own. But, don't try to mess up anything, okay?" Percy asked.

"Wait. Why don't we go with Tyson, just to be safe. Then, you guys can go with Thalia and Nico so they can keep-- I mean, you can keep them out of trouble." Juniper winked at the teens. They agreed to this idea and walked away.

"So, what do we do first?" Annabeth asked. Then, she saw a sign that chilled her to her very core.

"World of Water!!!!" Percy yelled, running down the staircase underneath the sign. He fell halfway through. Nico ran down to help him, but Thalia simply jumped over him. They spent an hour looking through FASCINATING information about fish, that, apparently, Percy already knew, thanks to a few fishing trips with his dad. Then, they went to something that caught all their eyes. A tank filled with water, sand, and fake rocks sat in the middle of a huge room. Inside sat Manta rays and small hammerhead sharks. Percy ran forward, looking out over the tank. A worker came by, explaining the set up.

"This is our sea life petting tank. If you use the soft part of your finger, you can pet the sharks. But, if you use your nail.... Well, let's just say your don't want that." The man walked away, trying to get a child to stop standing in a fountain. Percy and Annabeth reached forward, gently petting the sharks.

"Don't even think about it." Nico said, noticing the glint in Thalia's eyes.

"Just once?" She asked, turning on her puppy eyes.

"No. If you shock them now, the could lose their fingernails, causing blood to fall into the tank, causing a feeding frenzy." Nico pointed out. Thalia pouted for a moment then went to pet the sharks. They left a few minutes later, all fingernails attached, and no blood lost. They walked around for a while, playing with the different modules. Then, they went up stairs to the dinosaur and bird exhibits. There, sat a wonderous machine. It was two electric bicycles, sitting a few feet apart, attached to a giant screen and a slightly smaller screen on each bike. Above it, was an explanation. You had to outrun a dinosaur on a bicycle. Percy raised an eyebrow towards Nico. Nico hopped on one bike, Percy on the other.

"Ready....Set...Go!" The giant screen said. They pedalled, faster and faster, escaping the dinosaur but not each other. Nico realized how tired he was from shadow traveling and stopped pedalling. Percy won the race. Annabeth and Thalia looked concernedly at him, hoping he wouldn't faint.

"All right. Who's next?" Percy asked, leaping off of his bike. Annabeth sat down and whispered something into Percy's ear. He nodded and walked over to Nico. He picked him up and laid him on the floor. Thalia got onto the other bike, still looking over at Nico. He gave her a small thumbs up. The race started soon afterwards. Thalia pushed as hard as she could on the pedals, almost breaking the machine. She, of course, won.

"How?! I'm around 22 and she's 15! Whatever." Annabeth shrugged it off. Percy picked up Nico and carried him to a nearby bench.

"Stranger Danger! Bad touch!" Nico yelled. Children looked at Percy and ran off in the opposite direction. They sat their for a moment, then the intercom announced that their movie was about to begin. They raced down the stairs, meeting Grover, Juniper, Juniper's bush, and Tyson. They watched the movie about Bugs for about an hour, went in the gift shop, and almost left when....

"Hey! Let's ride that!" Annabeth pointed upwards. High above them, a net was hanging, tightened by hooks hammered into the wall. Then, there was a giant bicycle up there. It was attached to what appeared to be a bungee cord. The group ran up there, Thalia reluctantly in trail. The child on the bicycle revved backwards, shooting across the cord. He hit a spring on a metal pole at the end. It measured the force he had used and then shot him back to the loading area.

"Um...." Thalia tugged on Percy's arm. He nodded, knowing what was the problem. He took the teens downstairs and waited for a few minutes as everyone else rode the Highcycle, as the Center called it.

"What was that about?" Nico asked, already suspecting the answer.

"I'm...uh...." Thalia trailed off.

"Uh, afraid of heights?" Nico guessed.

"Percy...." Thalia seethed anger, a small thunder cloud forming above his head.

"Two things. First, I didn't tell. Second, you were making it pretty obvious." Percy nodded.

"Was not."

"Thalia. Your were holding onto my arm in an iron grip with one hand, grabbing the rail with the other, and whispering to yourself 'Don't look down.'" Nico smiled softly.

"So? That could have been Tyson."

"No, Tyson would have been like 'No high! No high!" Percy laughed.

"You gotta love that big lug." Nico laughed.

"All right, guys! Let's go to Applebee's for lunch!" Annabeth announced, jumping down the stairs and landing in front of them.

"It's like.....5. This could be dinner. Wow. This place really takes time to go through." Percy consulted his watch.

"Well, let's go have a snack in that mall Annabeth was talking about earlier." Grover suggested.

"Malls have cookie shop." Tyson said in agreement, his one eye blinking contently.

They took a cab to the Galeria mall, a five story mall full of clothing stores, product shops, kiosk, and a HUGE food court. They went to the food court and goofed around for about an hour. Then, Nico shot up as he noticed a bag that a shopper was carrying.

"I'll be right back. Tyson." Nico threw his cookie into the Cyclops' mouth, recieving a 'Thank you!!' in reply. He ran over to the shopper and asked a quick question, then ran back to the group. He took his soda, drained it down, and sat down.

"What was it?" Percy asked, wondering if his cousin had gone insane.

"Third floor, great store, awesome clothes." Nico gasped.

"What kind?" Annabeth asked, worried about his mental health.

"Hot Topic." With that one reply, he, Thalia, Grover, and Percy had shot up off the table, and ran onto the escelator. I don't mean like they walked onto it and patiently waited to get to the third floor. No, they jumped onto the rail, ran up it, and began to make their way to the other escelator. They ran into the Hot Topic, marveling at the t-shirts, bands, and accessories. Unfortunately, they were dragged out by Juniper, Annabeth, and Tyson. They walked around for about an hour and a half, then something hit Percy.

"Guys. We have no clue where an Applebee's is around here. It's like 7:30. I think it's dinner time." Percy suggested. Their stomachs all growled at once. They all hurried to the exit, hailed another 2 cabs, and asked the drivers to get them to the nearest Applebee's. They walked inside, got their table, and sat, stunned as it all started.

((Wrote this in a hurry. Got back from a road trip so I had to unpack and then typed this before school.))


	6. Chapter 6: Sing along with Fred!

((Holy Cow. No, not you Hera. But, wow. Thanks for the reviews guys!!! I appreciate your feedback and apparently it is a lot weirder if they have like a 6 year age difference. I agree. Chapter 5 was just a dumb little thing to get one task out of the way. But, anyways, I don't own Percy Jackson, Applebee's or any band mentioned. And, if you have ever been to an Applebee's around 8:30 on a Wednesday, you know what will happen next.... Okay, so according to my time schedule, this is a Monday night's dinner. This is a fictional story, so I can control Applebee's time of this event!!! MUHAHA!!))

The group sat at their table, stunned. A man had gotten up onto the bar, pratically sweating alchohol, and was singing and dancing horribly. He kicked a glass off of the bar before the bar tender could reach it, sending it flying towards their table. Percy reached out and caught it, but the contents still flew out, landing on the table in front of Annabeth.

"Get down, ya drunk!" Someone shouted from another table.

"Kryptoniiiiiite!!! YEAAAAAAAH!!" The drunk sang, knocking another glass into their direction. Nico, sitting right beside Percy, caught the glass with his spoon, before allowing it to drop to the table. He looked at it for a moment then passed it over to Percy.

"Martini?" He asked, slightly amused at the Coyote Ugly like situation.

"Well, I am 22. I guess a few drinks wouldn't hurt." Percy laid the drink down on the table next to them, and flagged down their waiter. The young man walked over, trying to avoid different drinks that were sent through the air.

"Caleb! You were supposed to clear off that bar 10 minutes ago! I'm sorry, it's karoake night, and we keep the bar open. Dumb idea really, but what can I get you guys to drink?" He asked, laying out silverware.

"I'll have a margirata." Percy lifted his menu up, looking over the appetizers.

"I'll have a Sierra Mist." Nico looked over at Grover.

"Water for us." He pointed at himself and Juniper.

"Coke" Tyson nodded, apparently proud of his choice.

"Pib Xtra." Thalia turned towards her silverware, picking up the napkin and spreading it across her lap. Nico and Percy looked at her, looked at each other, back at her, and tilted their heads. She just shook her head and rolled her eyes.

"Same as him." Annabeth pointed towards Percy.

"All right. You guys want any appetizers?" The waiter asked, scooping a glass out of the air like he was used to this type of thing.

"Yeah, actually. Can we get an appetizer sampler?" Percy asked.

"We may need like.... three." Annabeth corrected him.

"Okay. That it?" The waiter placed the glass on the table next to them, now littered with glasses that hadn't been broken or knocked some one out.

"Yep. Oh, will you need to see our ?" Percy asked, getting his wallet.

"Yeah. It's a rule." He nodded, moving his shoulders back and forth. Annabeth and Percy showed their I.D.s to the waiter and he walked away with his order. A man in a blue American Eagle shirt came up to them, wearing sunglasses and khakis. He smiled down on the group, almost blinding them and making Thalia, Percy, and Nico realize who their guest was.

"Apollo?" Percy asked.

"Shh! It's Fred, remember?" He put his finger to his mouth.

"Got tired of being a hobo?" Nico guessed.

"Yeah. Didn't really sit well with me after that eclipse I had last summer. I only got to the East, but then my hobo rags lit up. So, I went from rags to riches." He shrugged.

"So....Not to be mean or anything, but why are you here?" Thalia asked.

"You didn't thing my task would to simply have dinner, did you?" Apollo raised an eyebrow behind his sunglasses.

"Wait. Apollo, Lord of Music....karoake...task we need to complete...hmmm...." Annabeth said, sarcasm rolling off of her tongue.

"Yes, Wise Girl, we get it." Percy rolled his eyes.

"Just making sure, Seaweed Brain."

"As I was saying, I want you guys to sing a few songs. I even have a list. Oh, and you have to dress up. I've got costumes set up in the third stall of each restroom." Apollo took a slip of paper out of his pocket and gave it to Nico and Percy.

_Songs to sing:_

_2. Tik Tok- Girls_

_1. Men In Black-Guys_

_3. I Gotta Feeling- Everyone_

_ "_And, if we don't do it?" Nico asked. He didn't really like the idea of dressing up like Feds.

"Well, that's a task fail." Apollo smiled.

"What?" Annabeth asked.

"You fail this task. That adds to you and Percy's total score. You guys have to persuade the others to do this." Apollo walked away, heading out the door. The group sighed as one, shaking their heads.

"So.... According to this, you guys have to do Men In Black first." Annabeth took the paper and read.

"Great." Thalia rolled her eyes.

"I'll go get changed first." Grover stood up, eager to get this over with. He headed towards the bathroom, ducking under a flying shot glass. The drunk man lifted the microphone into the air, and fell off the counter. Their waiter came by, setting down their sampler. He went over to the man, picked him up, and dragged him to the side.

"So..... anyone know the lyrics to this song?" The moment Percy asked that, the page lit up in a shallow light. He, Nico, Annabeth, and Thalia reached over their sampler, grabbing a quesodilla and nibbled on it. The light cleared, revealing the lyrics, every few verses with a different person's name on it.

"Well, that solves that." Grover appeared, wearing a black suit with some Vans on, and sat down next to Juniper, grabbing a celery stick from underneath the hot wings and bit into it.

"All right. I guess I'll go change now." Percy stood up. He set down his quesodilla and walked to the restroom. He entered, walking into the last stall. The moment he closed the door behind him, he realized something was wrong. There wasn't a few costumes or anything like that, no. There was an entire closet full of wardrobes. Percy looked around in amazement.

"I wonder what else is enchanted on this trip." Percy smiled to himself. He looked through the closet for a while, finally finding a suit in his size. He grabbed some shades and walked out. He exited the bathroom, slipping the sunglasses onto his face. He walked over to the table, slipping in beside Nico. A shotglass flew over their heads, hitting a random bus boy.

"I thought they got that drunk guy off the bar?" Percy asked Annabeth.

"Yeah, **that** drunk guy. This one's a girl. And, she's even more wasted than the guy before." Annabeth shook her head sadly. Percy picked up his quesodilla and ate the rest of it. He tagged Nico's hand and jerked a thumb towards the bathroom. Nico nodded and ran back their, dodging a mug on the way. He ran into the stall, not really surprised at the amount of space in there.

"Holy Crap. I still haven't told the guys about the enchanted beds!" Nico laughed, slapping himself on the forehead lightly. He browsed through the closet, finding his size after a minute. He grabbed a pair of black Vans and slipped them on. He grabbed some sunglasses and placed them onto his nose. He turned to look into an oddly conveniently placed mirror and smiled.

_I look GOOD as a Federal Agent._ He thought to himself, trying to gain some self confidence. He was very nervous, especially because he had to do this in front of Thalia.

_Crap. How's my hair? My breath? My clothes?_ He paniced in his head. _Just breath. The only time she'll get close enough to you to smell your breath is when you're eating. And then at that, I think I passed some mints in here somewhere._ Nico turned around, immediately spotting a platter of mints.

"Wow. Apollo has thought of everything." Nico grabbed a few and ran out, heading back to their table. He sat down, noticing the absence of the drunk girl.

"All right. You guys get up after this song." Annabeth told Nico.

"Huh?" Nico asked, hungrily looking over the nachos.

"Yeah. While you were in the bathroom, I put your names down." Annabeth tossed a nacho at him, bouncing harmlessly off of his sunglasses and into the salsa. He quickly picked it up and popped it into his mouth. He nodded his head like a cat would, as if to say 'Okay, now that I was fed, I understand.'. Thalia picked up a mozzerella stick and dipped it in the marina. She eyed Nico, then Percy, then Nico again.

"Nope." Nico took it out of her hand, watching as a disbelieving Thalia stared in horror as he ate her stick.

"How could you?!" She asked, a tear running down her face. Nico didn't know what he had done, but he did what any man would do.

"I'm sorry." He pulled her into a tight hug. She calmed down and smiled again. They seperated and a moment later, something leathery hit the table.

"Here's your wallet back." She smiled. Nico gave her a questioning gaze in reply. "Well, someone has to tip the waiter!"

"That's all right. I was going to anyways. Oh, and I need the room key back." Nico put out his hand. Thalia grumbled something under her breath and handed over the key. Nico finally opened his wallet, slipping the card into it's place. He closed it and put it inside his suit this time, just to be safe. The song that was playing ended abruptly, waking the group out of their trance. Percy, Nico, and Grover stood up, nodded to each other and walked towards the bar. Percy got up on the bar, apparently as was custom, and looked over at Annabeth. Nico and Grover hopped up with him, each taking in the look on his face.

"Just remember this, man." Grover nudged Percy, fixing his hair so his horns didn't stand out.

"This is to keep her." Nico smiled. The song started after a second, the lights dimming and laser lights flashing in the shape of the sun.

"Apollo!" Percy cursed under his breath. The speakers behind them thumped loudly, as if something landed on top of them. They all turned, finding Fred with an electric guitar.

"Here come the Men in Black." Nico sung

"Its the MIBs, uh, here come the MIBs." Grover replied, nodding his head to the beat.

"Here come the Men in Black!" Nico pushed his shades up his nose, trying to hide his widened eyes.

"They won't let you remember, oh no!" Percy smiled over at Annabeth. _All for her, all for her. You can do this._ Percy nodded to someone off the bar, signaling it. Tyson jumped up onto the bar, dressed as an octopus.

"You're supposed to be an alien!" Nico laughed, covering his mouth.

"Nah Nah Nah! The good guys dress in black, remember that. Just in case we're ever face-to-face and make contact." Percy pulled Tyson over to the side, ready to scold him. "The title held by me, MIB, means that what you think you saw, you didn't see. So don't blink, be what was there is now gone. Black gray suits with the black Ray Bans on."

"Walk in shadows. Move in silence." Percy shook Tyson a bit and then patted him on the head. Nico began to join in with his voice "Fighting against extraterrestial violence!"

"Yo, we ain't on no government list. We straight don't exist, no names, and no fingerprints." Grover jumped up a few times, catching some attention.

"Saw something strange? Watch your back. Cuz you never quite know where the MIBs is at, uh!" Nico jumped onto the speaker with Fred.

"Here come the Men In Black, Galaxy Defenders! Here come the Men in Black! They won't let you remember, oh no!" All three teens sang. Fred took his turn, doing a little trick on his guitar. He took out a quarter and spun it across one of the strings, popping it into Tyson's octopus suction cups. The Cyclops one eye blinked in thanks and nodded.

"Uh huh, now. From the deepest of the darkest night, on the horizon, bright light enters the sight, tight." Nico took an olive from the bar tender and flicked it playfully towards Thalia, sticking out his tongue. _I am so dead. Oh well._ He laughed in his head.

"Cameras zoom on the impending doom, but then- like boom black suits fill the room up." Grover looked over at Nico, his eyes pleading him to run away before he is killed.

"With the quickness, talk with the witnesses. Hypnotizer, neuralizer." Percy made a motion to Fred behind his back. The god in disguise made the room flash, as if it had actually happened. "Vivid memories, turn to fantasies. Ain't no MIBs, can I please?"

"Do what we say, that's the way we kick it. Y'know what I mean?" Nico picked up a glass and filled it with soda from the soda hose, quickly draining it down.

"See my noisy cricket get wicked on ya!" Grover shook his head. A cricket popped out of his hair, landing on his shoulder. Percy, Tyson, Nico, and Fred all took a step back from the satyr. He simply shrugged and went along with it.

"We're your first, last, and only defense against the worst scum of the universe." Nico shrugged. He set the glass down, inviting Fred to walk onto the bar.

"Don't fear us, cheer us, if you ever get near us don't jeer us, we're fearless. MIBs freezing up all the flack. What that stand for?" Percy asked the others.

"Men in Black!" Tyson, Nico, Grover and Fred answered. Fred started to strum faster, causing a riot.

"Let me see ya bounce with me, bounce with me, just bounce with me." Nico looked over at Thalia, recieving a slap with a nacho.

"C'mon let me see ya slide with me, just slide with me, just slide with me." Grover took the quarter out of the Cyclops hand, biting at it. Nothing happened to it, but Grover gripped his mouth in pain.

"C'mon let me see ya take a walk with me, take a walk with me, c'mon let me see ya neck work, work, now freeze." Percy stopped, the lights stopped flashing in the same instance.

"Here come the Men in Black, Galaxy defenders! Here come the Men in Black, they won't let you remember, oh no." The group sang. Fred nodded to Percy as if he were complimenting him on some extraordinary task.

"All right, check it! Slow down, dude!" Nico altered the words at that last part.

"You're worried about the wrong thing, pimp!" Grover assured a tearey eyed Tyson.

"Whoa. That's awesome, bro. 817, Percy Jackson and friends!" And after that, the song ended. The diners clapped as the teens hopped off the stage. Fred magically appeared beside their table.

"You guys win." Fred assured them.

"What?" Percy asked, confused.

"You didn't want to do it. I mean, the last time you sang, the windows around camp cracked. But, your love for Annabeth made you go at first, then it got easier. Love is sometimes about having to do things you don't want to do for the sake of others." Fred lazily swirled a nacho in some salsa.

"So, we don't have to sing?" Thalia asked happily.

"No. If they failed horribly, and got boos from people, then yeah. And then, if that failed, I Gotta Feeling was just a chill out type of song." Fred bit into his nacho and vanished in a ray of light. Luckily, nobody had been watching. No blindness, or witnesses. A single piece of paper landed on the table where his hand rested.

"Keep the suits." Nico laughed as he read it. They finished dinner and shadow traveled back to the hotel. They were about to go to bed when Nico suddenly remembered something.

"Oh, guys, the beds are enchanted, by the way. Have fun." Nico shut the door behind him, leaving Percy, Tyson, Grover, Annabeth, and Juniper standing in the hall in confusion.

"Thanks, Winnie the Pooh." Thalia joked.

"What! Hermes packed for me! And you! I saw the bikini you had in their! You don't even like shorts!" Nico laughed, jumping onto the bed. Thalia just shook her head sadly, crawling in next to him. She wrapped her arms around him and zapped him.

"Night Sparky." Nico replied through his spiked up hair.

"Night." Thalia shut off the light. Then, something struck her in the back.

"That's my foot, I swear to gods." Nico's eyes grew even wider in the darkness. Something hit him in the ear, hard.

"And that was my boob." Thalia said with evident sarcasm.

((FINALLY DONE!! WITH THIS CHAPTER!!! AND MY BOW GOT FIXED SO I'M HAPPY AS AN APHRODITE CAMPER ON VALENTINE'S DAY!!!))


	7. Chapter 7: Paintings

(( So far, the point of this story may be a little confusing. Is it a Thalico? Is it a Percabeth? Well, it's just a series of tasks Percy and Annabeth must complete if Annabeth doesn't want Percy's head over her mother's mantle. And, if this story just happens to have Nico and Thalia getting together, then that, is just a bonus. Oh, and if you guys want to start submitting ideas for tasks or riddles, you can. I don't own Percy Jackson and The Olympians or Walmart, and here's chapter 7.))

"Nico! Wake up! You're going to love this!!" Percy ran into the room. Nico jumped up immediately, causing Thalia to move around in her sleep.

"What is it? Another task?" Nico asked sleepily.

"Yeah. But, listen to this. It's from Ares. _I would have liked for you all to go kill each other for real with swords and bows and such, but I guess I'll have to settle for a paintball fight in a Walmart. Do Good, Punk. Signed, Ares." _Percy read happily. Annabeth entered the room a moment later, covered head to toe in camo paint.

"You do know this will be in Walmart, right?" A second voice asked. The bed creaked slightly, and an arm wrapped around Nico's neck for support. Annabeth started to say something, but Percy put his hand over her mouth.

"Don't say a word, or your eyebrows will be electro-waxed. Anyways,this will be our team versus Tyson, Grover, and Juniper." Percy warned.

"Wait. Walmart, destruction of public property, disturbing the peace. Something tells me that jail will be involved." Thalia pointed out.

"Yeah. But, oddly enough, Ares gave us these." Annabeth produced a Zip Lock bag full of handcuff keys. They glowed with a red hue.

"Magic keys. I guess that, no matter what pair of cuffs we put them in, we can still escape." Percy jumped up and down.

"Wow. You're really excited, huh?" Nico moved back towards the bed, slipping back under the covers.

"Yeah! So, let's go!! I already have the guns in our room." Percy urged, pointing towards his room.

"First one there gets black paintballs." Annabeth taunted. Nico and Thalia jumped out of bed, nearly flying over the couple. They ran across the hall, almost kicking down the door. They walked inside, finding two green paintball guns, one orange, one grey, one blue, one yellow, and one black. There was a bag of paintballs and two extra CO2 cartridges for each gun laying right beside it. Grover, Juniper, and Tyson jumped as they ran it, scared for their lives. The last time the two teens had run into somewhere in a hurry, together, there was a body cast signing party the next day.

"Okay! Let me just tell you guys this. Their color coordinated. Thal, your's is yellow. Nico, black." Grover waved his hand towards the guns. Thalia picked up her gun, pointing it at Nico. She stretched her fingers, slowly.

"Go ahead and have them." Nico shrugged.

"Really?" Thalia looked surprised. Then, something hit her. She quickly looked inside her gun, finding blue paintballs with yellow lightning marks on it. Nico held up a black ball with a skull on it and smiled. He grabbed the extra yellow paintballs and sat down on the couch. Thalia sat down beside him, inspecting her weapon of mass destruction. Nico yawned, winking at the newcomers as they entered their room. Percy tilted his head, unsure if this was a good or bad thing. Nico stretched the rest of the way, placing an arm around Thalia's shoulder. His cold hand sent goosebumps down her skin, but she didn't back away. Percy just shook his head sadly.

"Dude. You're still wearing your pajamas. It looks more like a bear attack." Thalia laughed. She leaned into his arm without realizing it. Thunder rolled loudly outside, followed by a low rumble from below the earth.

"I guess that's a no." Percy laughed. "Okay, we're all changed. If Nico and Thalia will go change now, we can head out and get to Walmart before a lot of people come in. Less destruction, more space, and more fun."

"True. Wait, what's the point of this?" Nico asked.

"Well, which ever team has the least amount of paint on them after we are all out, wins." Annabeth explained. "It would make more sense."

"And what about face masks?" Thalia asked, noticing that there were none.

"Just try not to get hit in the face." Grover shrugged.

"Okay then. I'll go get dressed." Nico offered, running back to his room and changed into a black polo shirt and a pair of jeans. Thalia ran in after he finished, changing into a purple t-shirt and some jeans. They were ready. The entire group ran downstairs, knocking some dirt out of Juniper's plant. Grover scooped it back up and redeposited it. They ran outside, catching two taxis. They walked into Walmart, extra paintballs and cartridges in pockets, guns in hand, and nodded to each other. Team Rainbow, the name Tyson had chosen in honor of his favorite animal friend, raced away towards the toy aisle. Team Olympians walked calmly towards the electronics, not wanting to attract attention.

"Okay, here's the plan. Nico, you give a diversion while Percy and I shoot the heck out of them. Then, at the same time, Thalia will come from behind them, hiding at the entrance to the garden. Any questions?" Annabeth asked. Her grey eyes shone with her ingenuity.

"Yeah, what if that fails? I mean, in the slim chance that that fails." Nico asked, raising an eyebrow.

"We do like Blackjack and wing it." Percy fired a paintball into the air, scaring a few customers away. "This will be our base. If you get lost, just come back here."

"Got it. But, what if we could do a few...harmless pranks along the way?" Thalia asked, knowing that Nico was nodding in agreement.

"What do you have?" Annabeth smiled deviously.

"Putting embarrasing items in carts as people walk by, pretending to be insane, tying dolls to our legs and then yelling it's Chuckie coming to get us. Stuff like that." Nico nodded.

"Oh, what about, every time someone says something over the intercom, we all get down on our knees and say, very seriously, 'THE GODS HAVE SPOKEN!'" Percy suggested. He looked around for a moment, his eyes fixing on the sporting goods aisle.

"Ping Pong Panic." Nico and Percy whispered to each other. They motioned for the girls to follow them. They walked calmly over to the sporting goods, picking up an already opened canister of ping pong balls. They picked up some paddles, hitting the balls back and forth.

"What does this achieve?" Annabeth asked.

"Well, it may look like fun, because it is. But, if we can get these over to them, and pour these on them, they could slip around everywhere." Percy explained, throwing a ball towards Nico.

"Then, as they are slipping around, we could take these and shove a few down the barrels of their paint ball guns." Nico finished, back handing two balls off of a bike. They landed with a pop inside each girls' mouth.

"Run?" Percy asked.

"No. We'll get you back later. You won't know when, and you won't know how, but we will. Let's go." Thalia ordered, racing towards the toy aisle. She spotted a group of lazy workers along the way, stopping to snipe them with Nico and Percy. Then, they ran again, reaching their destination. They could hear Tyson in the next aisle over, arguing with Grover.

"We should go to the garden! We'll have the upper hand." Grover explained, putting his gun next to Tyson's and Juniper's on the ground. Annabeth smiled, took a few ping pong balls, and donned a familiar cap. She turned invisible instantly, hiding the balls behind her back. She walked over silently, placing a ping pong ball inside each of the guns and then threw one over the aisle towards Percy. Nico ran out, yelling like a maniac.

"AAH! RAWR! REOR! MOO! COOKIE MONSTER WILL COME FOR YOU!!" Nico shot once at Grover's hoof. The satyr easily dodged the paintball.

"Wow. Bad aim." Tyson nodded, picking up his gun. He shot Nico once in the chest, then stood there for a moment as Annabeth magically appeared in front of him, shooting him in the stomach a few times. Percy popped up out of nowhere, gunning down Grover.

"Garden!" Tyson cried, his one eye streaming. He ran right into Thalia, knocked down. Grover stopped in his tracks, causing Juniper to stop as well. Her little wagon had some blue on it, shrapnel from Percy's attack on Grover. Thalia put one leg on Tyson's chest, looking down into his big brown eye.

"Boo." She removed her leg quickly as he hauled butt. Grover followed him, eager to retreat. The satyr knew how to fight, but he was scared of Thalia right now. Juniper pushed her wagon, jumping into it and rolling along side Grover. It was a rather comical sight.

"That was fun." Thalia said with glee. Her hair shook as she tossed her head back and laughed. Nico snapped himself out of it. _This is the middle of the battle field, don't go soft._ Nico remembered the lesson that Dr. Thorn had taught him once when he had run away from a fight at school. Nico smiled softly, remembering the days that his sister was alive. Thalia walked towards him, grabbing his arm and pulling him towards the alarm clocks a few aisles away.

"Five minute intergers." Annabeth instructed. They all set as many alarms as they could and carried them to the garden. They easily spotted Tyson, his head poking out from behind some bushes. They slid the alarm clocks around them, each clock hiding in a different and unrelated place. Team Olympians quietly laughed at this prank. They shot at the bush, hitting the pot underneath it. Tyson turned around, shooting Annabeth a few times. A few ping pong balls fell out, landing a few feet away from Annabeth. She picked them up and inspected them, finding a few puncture holes in them. Grover had shot twice at Thalia during that moment.

"Retreat!!" She ordered as Tyson's real paintballs came flying at them. They ran back to the electronics, moving a few TV boxes around and hiding behind them.

"Ha! Flat Screen." Percy bragged, noticing the box he was beside.

"Bigger flat screen." The group said, putting Percy into a bad mood.

"Why did we retreat?" Nico asked, cleaning an orange stain off of his arm. Then, he noticed it. A single green paintball. He picked it out, grinning evilly.

"Grover Vs. Tyson!!! Ding Ding Ding!" Percy laughed, instantly knowing what Nico was thinking. Nico nodded his head. He emptied his gun, placing the green paintball at the bottom and feeding it into his barrel. He put all of his paintballs back in, now ready for this new tactic.

"So, what? We shoot Tyson with this green paintball, he realizes that it's Grover's and goes ballistic on him?" Thalia guessed, correctly. Percy and Nico gave her a gentle nod in the dark. "And, what if the big lug doesn't realize that it's Grover's?"

"I'm sorry. It just sounded like you just called my brother stupid." Percy asked politely, cocking his head to one side.

"Well, what if he doesn't realize it?" Thalia asked again.

"In that case, we get another one and shoot it at Juniper. Her's are a purple color, so she knows who has what color." Annabeth explained. Thalia simply rolled her eyes in the dark, unseen except by Nico. He grabbed her hand and squeezed it, as if to say 'Come on, be hopeful.'

"It's about time for the first clock to go off." Percy noticed. As if on cue, Tyson screamed, the sound of a paintball gun firing filling the air.

"Go time." Annabeth noted. She began to roll out from behind her TV, but was stopped by Nico.

"Wait. Can we do one thing on the way there?" Nico asked, his eyes pleading in the darkness.

"Fine." Annabeth sighed. Nico rolled out ahead of her.

"Da na na nanana Da na na nanana Da nanana da nananana Doo doo doooo doo doo doooo doo doo doo Doo ah." Nico hummed the Mission Impossible theme song, rolling around with his team mates. He rolled underneath a shopping cart, sitting there for a moment then standing up and walking the rest of the way. Grover's voice mixed in with Tyson's crying.

"Tyson! Don't waste your ammo! We need this stuff!" Grover scolded. Percy stood up, looking slightly angry. Nico stopped humming the Mission Impossible theme song and asked for something more sinister from Thalia.

"Twilight Zone?" Thalia asked, shrugging. They started humming it, recieving an eye roll from Annabeth. Then, she started humming it too. Percy ran straight over to the garden section, jumping straight over a tall worker. He shot and spun around in the air, as if he was on the Matrix. Annabeth's jaw dropped. Percy was going in slow motion in the air, while everyone else was going in a normal speed. Team Rainbow stopped firing, watching in amazement. Tyson looked up at his brother, apparently as confused as the rest of the group. Grover put down his gun and jumped up, grabbing Percy. They fell together, landing with a loud thud.

"You okay?" Grover asked.

"Yeah. A freaking water hose got caught wrapped around my chest. I guess they have these things on some kind of slide." Percy gasped, trying to regain his breath. He stood up, helped up Grover, and dusted himself off.

"You want to try that again?" Grover asked, picking his gun back up.

"Yeah. We'll go back through and try a different tactic." Percy nodded thankfully. Team Olympians turned and walked away, until something green pegged Percy in the back. It bounced off harmlessly, shooting back at Grover. The 'Ow!' that followed made both groups laugh.

"Not cool! You're invincible!" Grover laughed.

"Yeah? Well, you and Juniper can control plants, and Tyson could make traps. Technically, you guys have the upper hand." Annabeth pointed out, still walking away. The alarm clock was still ringing behind Team Rainbow. Tyson looked around, finally finding the annoying piece of technology. Then, something above them crackled and a voice came on the intercom.

"Attention shoppers, we advise that you do not play with the merchandise, nor have paintball fights in the store. Thank you." Both teams dropped their guns, fell to their knees, and shouted loudly, "THE GODS HAVE SPOKEN!!!!" Then, they all got up and returned to their bases. Along the way, Percy stopped them in the hunting aisle. He spotted a few fishing rods laying out, some foam blocks, and sunglasses.

"All right. Everyone take a foam block and some sunglasses. Annabeth, grab a fishing pole." Percy instructed.

"Why?" Annabeth asked, already knowing the answer. Percy still had one alarm clock with him, an old time one that wouldn't stop ringing until you found it and slammed your fist on the top. He hooked it to one pole, and handed it to Annabeth.

"We can use the foam blocks as shields and the sunglasses make us look cooler. When we go back there, sling the line over the water hose I got stuck on. Then, throw the pole into a shelf and leave it there. I've wound this thing up all the way, and set it to go off in ten minutes. If you do this now, we could come back in ten minutes, and scare the hell out of 'em." Percy explained. Annabeth nodded and ran off to do as she was told.

"You know, for a Seaweed Brain, you are really crafty." She teased on her return. Percy smiled contently and put on some black sunglasses

"Okay. Now, we're the Matrix." Nico said seriously. "Oh. Wait. Thalia, go get a Barbie doll and a sharpie. Preferably a red headed doll." Thalia smiled and went to retrieve the item. Nico broke some fishing line off of a pole and stood there for a moment. Thalia returned, giving both items to Nico. He turned around, customising the item. He showed the results to the group. They all laughed and nodded. Nico tied the fishing line around the doll's body, making it stand up even if he dragged it around.

"And now, we get this on Juniper." He finished.

"When?" Annabeth asked.

"Well, we could either do it now with you and your cap, or, we could do it during the chaos that will reign in the next..... four minutes." Nico turned around and shot at a large mannequin. It sighed and walked away, it's fake feet slamming against the ground. Grover grumbled under his breath and walked back to the garden. Nico silently walked behind him, bending down and ran the line around his shoe, the Barbie doll following him. The team threw high fives all around.

"He should know by now that he has horns that kinda stick out of his head. Now, if this works, Tyson will freak out and think it's Chuckie trying to get Grover." Thalia laughed.

"Why did you draw blood all over it's mouth, Nico?" Percy asked, his ribs should have been hurting from laughter.

"Dramatic effect." Nico shrugged. He pulled his gun in front of him and walked away silently. He motioned for the other's to follow him and they found themselves in the Girl's toy aisle, where two figures were playing with My Little Ponies.

"Tyson, we're too old for this." Juniper said, still playing with hers.

"No! Rainbow still fun!" He protested, his one brown eye filled with joy. Nico sighed, signaling that they were there.

"Oh...Hey, guys." Juniper said nonchalantly. She picked something up, tossing it between her hands. The item looked like a tube filled with purple icing. But then, Percy looked again. It was a tube filled with purple paint, both ends tied with rubber bands, but one band was curving up the tubing, frayed. Juniper gave it a little toss, bailing with her wagon and Tyson. Percy was the first to react. He picked up the paint grenade, trying to toss it back to them, but it stuck. They had put super glue all over one side! Percy stood there, shaking the grenade in his hand, trying to get it off. The band was an inch away from the top when Nico realized something. He walked over to Percy, sticking his hands to the grenade. He slip the band down and broke it, his glued on hand sealing it. Percy nodded appreciatively.

"Aw, Crap." Nico realized what he had just done. Eventually, the super glue would come off and explode on the two men. And, if not, their mobility was now restricted by the object that now joined them together. Percy's eyes grew wide, as if he too just realized the horrible truth. Then, something hit him. Annabeth pulled her hand back and hit his hand again.

"What are you doing?" Percy asked.

"Well, if we get your hand off, Nico will be safe. See, the end that you have isn't tearing at all. And, since Nico's hand is holding it, it shouldn't go off. Plus, Nico could go in to their garden, and set it off." Annabeth explained.

"So, basically, this is a paintball suicide strategy?" Nico asked. He shrugged, oddly all right with the fact that he was being used. Percy's hand came off, with a rip. He looked down, finding a small part of the tube stuck to his hand. The group stopped. This meant that there was a hole in it, about to leak out. The pressure would release all at once. Nico's other hand shot out, sealing the hole with his thumb. He had to drop his gun, but he wouldn't need it. He lifted his hands behind his head, placing them behind his back like he was wearing hand cuffs. He marched silently to the garden, allowing Tyson to see him without his gun.

"Nico, no gun!" Tyson told the two heads that poked out from the bushes beside him. Grover popped up fully, carrying his gun.

"Why are you here without a gun?" Juniper asked.

"They took my gun. I screwed up by finding you guys. Percy is pretty mad, now that he's more purple than Barney." Nico faked tears. He had learned how to do this from Travis when he was 13. He never used it against Grover, Juniper, or Tyson because they could sense emotion, but they had never been near him whenever he cried, so they had no idea what his sadness felt like. Juniper popped out, giving him a hug and pulling him towards their base. Nico sat down, noticing all the items they had. Two more grenades sat nearby, one green and one orange.

"Did you guys use all your extra paintballs on those?" Nico asked, tears landing on his pants as he sat cross legged. Grover nodded solemnly. Tyson looked over at Nico, noticing the item behind his back. Nico stood up and yawned and sniffled. He stretched, as if he were tired. The alarm clock went off high above them, causing Team Rainbow to look around for the item. Then, he brought his arms out in front of himself and pulled them apart. Purple paint splattered everywhere. Juniper had hidden behind a large bag of fertilizer. A hand reached out over the top of it, a paintball gun shooting at Nico. Nico ducked, grabbing the two other grenades and ran like hell hounds were after him. Percy and Annabeth were nearby, returning Juniper's fire. Nico tossed one to Percy, who switched places with Thalia. Thalia was shooting at Tyson, who had recovered from the chaos and was returning Annabeth's fire. Nico tossed the green grenade to Percy, but a huge venus fly trap appeared, swallowing the grenade. A moment later, Grover sent the grenade back over the bushes and towards Nico and Percy.

"Disperse!" Annabeth ordered. They all spread out, avoiding the paint. They had all left their shields on the floor as the grenade came in. The venus fly trap leaned over, eating them all. Percy cursed under his breath in the aisle straight across from Nico. Grover's gun jammed, causing him to fall back. He switched out CO2 cartridges and returned to the fight. Percy ran out in front, carrying his and Nico's guns. He ran across the space, heading towards Nico. Nico tossed something shiny out into the clearing, ready for his gun.

"Quarter!" Tyson said happily and ran out to retrieve it.

"No!" Grover yelled, putting down his gun. Nico grabbed his gun from Percy and started to climb up the aisle. He got to the top and swung himself over a water hose, hanging upside down. He took aim and fired at Tyson. The Cyclops crouched down at the last second to retrieve the coin. Percy followed Nico's example and climbed up onto the hose. He took Nico's gun and nodded. Nico looked down at Grover, who was now trying to shoot him. Nico took the rubber band off of Tyson's grenade.

"Sorry, Tyson!" Nico apologized. He dropped the grenade, looking down at the battle field. Annabeth was below, trying to put more paintballs in her gun. Then, the grenade went off. Orange paint splattered all around, even covering Annabeth. Annabeth fell over, surprised by this attack.

"No!" Percy yelled. He shoved the guns into Nico's hands and dropped. He landed on his feet, running over to Annabeth and grabbing her. He started to cry, his tears mixing in with the paint on Annabeth's face.

"How...how could you?!" Percy cried out, getting angry.

"I'm sorry!" Nico fell, landing beside Percy. Percy gave him a serious look, then winked. 'Check her pulse' Percy mouthed. Nico nodded and did so. He motioned for Thalia to come over.

"She's...she's...." Thalia cried, getting the hint. Grover and Juniper came over, looking down at her.

"My ears are buzzing." Nico lied, trying to sound alarmed. Grover and Juniper had set their guns down beside Team Olympians's guns. Nico picked up their's, throwing them back into the bushes out of mock anger.

"I'm....I'm..." Juniper stammered, unable to get the words out. Thalia grabbed her gun and walked away, heading towards Tyson who was still trying to pick up the quarter. She pressed the barrel of her gun to his back.

"You're.....you're... Gullible, for one." Percy cried. He picked up Annabeth's gun and gave it to her.

"So not cool!" Grover punched Percy on the chest. Percy just laughed.

"It was just too easy!" Nico agreed, pointing his gun at Grover's back. Grover put one hand up, but then, his other hand went to his pocket. An absolutely huge paint grenade was there, colors mixing together to form an ugly vomit like color.

"While you guys weren't looking, I had my fly trap steal your extra paint balls. It took a few moments to put this thing together. Now, I'm going to set it off so this is a tie." Grover laughed evilly. Juniper looked over at Nico, holding up Percy's gun. Nico ran, avoiding the volley of paintballs that followed him. Team Olympians followed, standing over by the entrance to the garden. The automatic door closed behind them, and they all laughed at Team Rainbow. Grover cocked his head to the side, wondering what was so funny. Then, he realized it. He had stepped on the tube of super glue he had used to make the grenades and was stuck in a puddle of the bonding mixture. Then, something shot towards him, hitting him in the head. A rubber band, painted all the colors in the grenade.

"Here's your rubber band back!" Annabeth called as the doors opened for her. She took her hands from behind her back, revealing her invisibilty cap.

"Grea---" Grover never got a chance to finish, as the pressure inside the grenade went off. Team Rainbow looked more like Team Tossed-My-Cookies. Percy walked in, helping Grover out of the super glue. Nico grabbed Thalia's hand, who grabbed Annabeth's, who grabbed Percy's, and so on, until everyone had joined hands. He ran into a wall, shadow traveling them to the empty lobby of their hotel.

"Wow. It's already noon. That took three hours!" Percy laughed.

"You'd think we'd have been smart enough to read the alarm clocks we were toying with. That was a great idea though." Annabeth complimented. She leaned up against Percy, standing on her tip toes. He wiped some orange paint off of Annabeth's face and kissed her. Grover leaned over and kissed Juniper. Tyson looked around for a moment, finding a broken suitcase wheel on the floor, picked it up, and hugged it. Thalia and Nico stood there awkwardly, unsure of what to do.

"Um...great job? It was nice fighting with you?" Nico said, unsure of what he should do.

'Um...yeah. Same to, Same to you." Thalia replied, shaking his hand. The group split up, each going to their own rooms. They all showered and changed, getting the paint off of their bodies. It was around two when a piece of paper fell onto Percy's bed. He looked up from the TV, grabbed it and read it. It smelled of salt water and a fresh breeze, signaling the letter's author.

_Dear Percy, Tyson, and friends,_

_Take the rest of the day off. Relax a little by the pool, maybe go to the beach later._

_Love,_

_Poseidon._

"Well, that's the first letter I've gotten that actually said 'love' from a god." Percy laughed. He quickly let Annabeth read the letter and they spread the word. Nico sat on the bed, nervously. He had already changed into his swimming trunks, but was now waiting for Thalia to come out of the bathroom. _If I mention her bathing suit at all, she'll kill me. Then, she'll try to kill Hermes._ Nico thought. He got up off of the bed and decided to head to the pool before she could get out of the bathroom.

"Thalia, I'm going down to the pool." He announced, shutting the door behind him. He too the elevator down, ran into the indoor pool, and slipped on the wet floor, landing next to Percy in the deep end. Percy looked up, his body completely dry. Nico struggled to tread water, surprised by the temperature of the water. It was ice cold, colder than a hospital room.

"Here. Let me help." Percy lifted Nico with the water, solidifying the water underneath them. Nico stood up, nodding his thanks.

"So, why are you here early?" Percy asked.

"Well...." Nico explained what all had happened the last few days and what he had seen in Thalai's dresser.

"No way. She's going to be so mad!" Percy laughed at his cousin.

"Come on! You have to help me out! I'll need you to distract me every time I start to do anything stupid." Nico pleaded. Percy looked up for a moment, then dipped underwater. Nico sighed, took a big breath and went under. He watched for a moment as Percy sat at the bottom, thinking of what to do. He saw over to Nico and created an underwater bubble for him.

"Why should I?" Percy raised an eyebrow.

"Well, if I do anything stupid, Zeus will send a bolt down for me. Because I'm in water, we will all be shocked. Badly." Nico added. Percy nodded his head in agreement.

"All right. I'll do it." Percy said quickly. The others entered the pool, their feet becoming visible under the surface. Percy jerked his thumb up, destroying his air bubble. Nico swam upwards, looked around, and then froze in the water.


	8. Chapter 8: What did you SAY!

((All right. As if I haven't clarified this enough, I don't own Percy Jackson & The Olympians. I've got about four tasks done! If you count this pool scene, it's five. I make these guys seem really OC, sorry. I think I might make something happen in this chapter between Nico and Thalia. OH, this guy, Anonymous AJ, wrote pretty much a flame about this. Naughty, naughty language. Well, I'm just going to say one thing about flames. I wll cook hot dogs and marshmallows over them. Then, we will all have a camp out and eat those hot dogs and s'mores. UNLEASH HELL! Yes, that was the little Roman dude from Night at the Museum. UNLEASH CHAPTER 8!!))

"Thalia. Why are you wearing that?" Nico asked, after Percy shot water into his face.

"Well, I didn't really like what swim wear was packed for me, so I took someone else's." Thalia stuck out her tongue. The navy blue t-shirt she had on clung to her body in the water.

"Okay, that I understand. But, did you really have to wear my other trunks?" Nico asked, shaking his head. Thalia opened her mouth as if to reply, but promptly shut it. Annabeth rode between them slowly, trying to get over to Percy. That wasn't too bad. The bad part, she was riding on a grey inflatable owl. Percy tried to stifle a laugh as she struggled over to them. Annabeth punched him, trying to keep her balance. Nico dove under the water, releasing his laughter down there. Something shot down past him, landing at the bottom. It was a dolphin shaped toy, sitting contently on the bottom. Nico popped up on the surface, looking around. Tyson had an absolutely HUGE bag with him, filled to the brim with water toys, inflatables, and, apparently, a volleyball net. He swam towards Tyson, eager to set it up. He and Percy had creamed everyone at camp at Volleyball last year.

"Okay. Whoever can dive down and get that doplhin get's a prize." Percy announced.

"Oh, and whoever threw it, you almost hit me." Nico added.

"Glad to see I still have good aim." Thalia laughed. Nico moved his arm across the surface of the pool, spraying water at Thalia.

"I could do better." Percy laughed. He pointed at his feet, where a small whirlpool was forming. It shot towards Nico, sucking him under for a moment. During that time, Nico grabbed the dolphin, launching it out of the water. A loud 'Nico!!' told him that he had hit his mark. _Glad to see I still have good aim._ Nico smiled to himself. He rose up to the surface, almost getting hit by a volleyball. The net was set up and Annabeth was sitting on her owl beside it.

"Since I can't swim, I'll be ref." Annabeth said, She let her crossed legs droop off up her owl. Percy looked over at Annabeth with a smile on his face. _If that bikini had any less fabric, even a thread, Athena would kill me for just being in the same state._ Percy laughed. Annabeth directed her attention to him, throwing an extra ball at him.

"Okay. This is the first round, so let's do... Thalia and Nico vs. Tyson and Percy." Grover jumped out of the water with Juniper.

"All right. But, let's play with both balls at the same time. Just to make it more interesting." Thalia smiled. She dove underneath the net, popping up beside Nico. She took the ball and nodded at Annabeth. Percy did the same.

"Serve!" Annabeth lifted her hand, trying to be official about it. That is, until, she fell off her owl. She quickly jumped, landing back on the owl and held on for dear life. Percy and Thalia served, both with a look of determination painted on their faces. Nico hit Percy's ball as it sailed over the net. Tyson flicked Thalia's ball with his middle finger, sending it back at them. They went like this for quite some time, nobody making a move to score yet. Percy suddenly smiled and threw his hands up and pointed to Thalia. Water rose above her, creating a wall between her and the net.

"No Fair!" Thalia pouted. She tried to get out from underneath, but Percy had built the entire wall around her, creating a prison.

"Tyson!" Percy called out. Tyson jumped up, ready to spike the ball. He slammed his entire hand on the ball, straight towards Nico. Nico jumped up, trying to meet it half way. Then, Thalia's aquatic prison fell, she saw the ball, and jumped. They collided in the air, each falling on their backs.

"Nico! Why didn't you let me get the ball?!" Thalia asked angrily.

"Percy, why did you cheat?!" Annabeth asked sternly, doggy paddling over to him on her inflatable owl.

"Because you slammed into me!" Nico retaliated. Tyson jumped out of the water, knowing that a huge fight was coming. He went over to the hot tub, sitting down across from Grover and Juniper. They all turned so they couldn't watch.

"Why is it such a big deal? It's just a game!" Percy replied.

"It doesn't matter! It's just the principles of it! Nico failed me, and you cheated in a game of volleyball! Who's to say you won't cheat on Annabeth or Nico won't turn into a crack head!" Thalia complained, throwing up her hands.

"You've been spending too much time with Zeus and Athena." Percy sighed.

"No, maybe it's because a certain person wouldn't use his powers in a game, or miss the volleyball." Nico told him. Thalia and Annabeth froze up.

"What did you say?!" Thalia ordered, her hands shooting sparks into the air. Nico raised his hands, causing crystals appear on his finger tips. (A/N: I read the Nico Di Angelo article on Wikipedia. It said he could control rocks like Hades, so...smeh.))

"No, maybe he's right." Percy said, water swirling around his arms like armor. Thalia shot him a look that made him shiver. Or, maybe it was the punch in the back Annabeth had given him.

"Don't talk about Luke!" Annabeth yelled.

"He was a traitor!" Nico backed Percy up. Then, something flew straight for his head. It wasn't a spear, a knife, a lightning bolt, a tidal wave, or a volley of paintballs. Thalia's hand collided with his face with a loud smack. Nico stood there stunned as Thalia breathed deeply, trying to keep calm.

"Don't...talk...about...Luke." She growled.

"Okay. I'm sorry." Percy said, meaning those words. He and Annabeth kissed for a moment, then they got out of the pool. Now, it was just Nico, Thalia, and an inflatable owl. Nico's head tilted down, casting a shadow across his face. His eyes darkened, filled with anger of the memories he had locked up for years.

"Let's face it! _He's_ the reason you left us! He's the reason you joined the Hunters! It wasn't to escape the Prophecy and then put all the pressure on me and Percy! It was to escape that...that... _ass hole!"_ Nico yelled.

"That's not true!" Thalia threw a dagger sized bolt at him. He rolled out of the way, which is hard to do in a pool. He threw a crystal towards her by instinct.

"Well, then, you just left to put all of the pressure on us?!" He demanded. She threw bolt after bolt at him, each barely missing. Nico threw another crystal towards her, which she easily side stepped.

"Stop going easy on me!" She demanded.

"No! I want on answer before I knock you out!" Nico yelled at her. He threw one straight towards her, causing it to slide into her wet hair. Her eyes grew wide, realizing that he was speaking the truth.

"Why did you leave?! If it wasn't to escape Luke, then you're just being a bitch!" She threw another bolt at him, again, missing him by millimeters.

"I left because I wanted to join the Hunters!" She retaliated, her eyes full of tears.

"Why did you want to join the Hunters? Why was that traitor such a big deal?!" Nico shot out another crystal, this time aiming for the bottom of the pool. It struck, then began to grow, bigger and bigger. Thalia tried to step out of the way, but the crystal swallowed her leg, restricting her movements.

"I realized after a year or two, that Percy isn't why Bianca died. I started to wonder 'Who kidnapped Artemis? Who almost killed Annabeth? Who made that stupid quest that killed my sister?' Then, it hit me. Luke." Nico walked over to Thalia calmly, throwing the rest of his crystals off to the side. He came up to her, close enough to see into her wonderously blue eyes. "So, answer me this. Why...do..you...still...care...for..that traitor?"

"He wasn't a traitor! He gave his life to end the war!" Thalia asked, obviously trying to avoid the question.

"That isn't an answer."

"Because....I....", Her voice shook as the tears fell "Because I loved him. Almost as much as...." Her shoulder's shook as she cried. The electricity in her hands vanished in a moment. She put down her head, trying not to let Nico see her face. Nico realized what he had done and called of his crystal. It shrunk in size and started to fly towards him under the water. He grabbed it and concentrated hard. The purple color changed, instantly becoming a very clear gem. He walked forward and put it in her hands.

"I'm...sorry. I don't know why it is such a big deal to me." Nico lied. He knew exactly why. Thalia took the diamond out of his hands, looking at it. She turned around, threw it at a wall, and looked back at him.

"I know why. We all know why. And you know exactly what I was about to say. Nico Di Angelo... I... _hate you!_" She pushed him out of the way and ran out of the pool. She grabbed both keys off of the table and a towel. She wrapped it around her shirt, then took off.

"Thal! Wait!" Annabeth got up, taking a towel with her. Juniper followed the girls. Percy, Grover, and Tyson looked over at Nico, none of them daring to say a word.

"Percy?" Nico choked out his words.

"Yeah, Nico?" Percy asked, jumping out of the hot tub.

"Drown me now." Nico let out all of his breath and allowed himself to sink down. Water swirled around him in mad currents. He thought Percy was actually going through with his request. Until he felt the air bubble surround him. A moment later, Grover, Percy, and Tyson joined him.

"I screwed up, so bad!" Nico cried, leaning back on the bubble.

"Oh, yeah." Tyson nodded. Percy simply sighed and laid back, trying to thing of what to say.

"You went too far." Grover pointed out. Nico started laughing like a mad man.

"What the hell! You just broke the heart of Zeus's daughter, and you enjoyed it?!" Percy demanded.

"No. I just realized some things. First, she's wearing my shirt and swim trunks. She took both the key cards to our room. And, that crystal I threw into her hair was her least favorite color." Nico laughed. This lightened the mood inside the bubble.

"Yeah. I still don't know why she hates pink." Grover admitted.

"It's a punk thing." Percy and Nico explained.

"Why did he ha-have to bring him up?" Thalia cried into her pillow. The girls had taken their swimsuits off and threw them into the tub to dry. Annabeth and Juniper sat in chairs near the bed as Thalia cried. The door knocked, signaling that their food had arrived.

"I have three ice cream sundaes and two pizzas for this room?" The employee asked. He set the cart in the middle of the room. Annabeth reached into Nico's bag, taking out some money and handed it to the man.

"You guys shouldn't really wear only towels in here. You might get sick." The employee pointed out as he walked out the door. A lightning bolt flew through the room, bouncing off of a mirror and slipping through the door. The man yelled in pain.

"Nico was just being a butt!" Juniper said, getting the ice cream and giving Thalia the biggest one.

"Yeah. He and Percy went way too far." Annabeth agreed.

"Bu-but, at least Percy apologized! Nico just trapped me in a freaking rock formation and made me cry!" Thalia sat up, wiping her eyes with a corner of her towel. She picked up her spoon and poked sadly at the ice cream.

"What was going through your head when he tried to apologize and give you that diamond?" Juniper wondered.

"First thing was 'Kill him now.'. Then, there was 'Come on, just one little zap.', followed by a second voice in my head. 'No, you can't! You've already seen one love die!'. When he handed me that diamond, I thought it was shaped like a heart. So, it threw it." Thalia explained. She took a spoonful of Mint Chocolate chip into her mouth. _Wow. This is the weirdest sundae I've ever had. It's Mint Chocolate chip, Chocolate, and Rocky Road._ She looked through the menu, trying to figure out what Annabeth had ordered. _The Break up dinner. Figures._

"You can say it all you want, but you know it isn't true." A fourth voice called out. The girls turned, only to have a flash of light appear in the opposite direction. Aphrodite stood by the mirror, checking her make up.

"What do you want?" Thalia sighed. She moved over to make room on the bed for Aphrodite.

"Well, first, I'd like some of that." Aphrodite made another sundae appear and began to eat it. She made her way over to the bed and sat cross legged beside Thalia. She snapped her fingers and the girls were dry and dressed in their regular clothes. "And, I'm here to talk to you about the Ghost King."

"You can forget about him. I'm trying to." Thalia said, pushing a few sprinkles onto her spoon.

"You can't lie to me about this. I'm the goddess of Love." Aphrodite sang.

"Yes I can."

"Okay, answer this. Do you love him?"

"Nico, why did you get so jealous and bring up Luke?" Percy asked randomly. It had been a few minutes after they started telling jokes and stopped trying to get Nico to feel better.

"What?" Nico asked out of shock.

"You heard me. Why did you get so jealous?" Percy repeated.

"I don't know..." Nico lied.

"He's not telling the truth." Grover turned towards Percy.

"You can sense that?" Nico asked.

"Yeah. In fact, let's try a bigger question." Grover replied evilly.

"Do you love her?" Percy asked. The world grew dark around Nico as he closed his eyes and thought. He had a strange feeling that Thalia was doing the same thing. It was almost like they had an empathy link or something. _Do I?_ Their thoughts collided, both voices mixing together in peace. Then, the reply that came from deep within them both shocked them.

"I....yes." Thalia replied, knowing Nico was saying the same thing. Aphrodite squealed in delight and clapped her hands, her ice cream floating in mid air.

"Annabeth, I've got a little task for you." Aphrodite said in a serious, but warm tone.

"Yes?" Annabeth asked, nervously eyeing the goddess.

"You, Percy, Thalia, and Nico will go on a double date!" Aphrodite exclaimed

"Hades no. From now on, I don't know who Nico Di Angelo is, I can't see him, I can't even hear his name! Whose name did I just say? I don't know!" Thalia set her ice cream on the nightstand and started to bounce up and down on the bed. Aphrodite sighed and began to bounce with her, which was apparently hard to do in high heels.

"Yes you will! You have to!" Aphrodite said in a motherly tone.

"Why should I?" Thalia asked, doing a few flips.

"Because, this is a task for Annabeth and Percy to be together. Poseidon gave you a task to go hang out at the pool, but you failed! If you guys fail this, Annabeth and Percy will be seperated for the rest of their lives. And then, you will have to choose where your loyalties are."

"Actually, I've worked a way around that. The letter told us to relax by the pool or go to the beach. We could say that the beach is our real try and the pool was a failed test drive. Then, we could go double date on the beach." Annabeth's head popped up, along with Juniper's. All four girls were bouncing on the bed with abandon.

"Fine. But, I'm only doing this for you, Annabeth." Thalia finally gave in. Aphrodite squealed and gave Thalia a big hug. Then, she pointed to the door. The girls looked and in that moment, the Goddess of Love flashed out of the hotel.

"I'll go tell the guys." Juniper slid off of the bed and walked out the door.

"He's so stupid." Thalia cried

"It'll be okay. Eat your ice cream before it melts." Annabeth slipped something into the ice cream, giving it a pink tint. Thalia sadly picked it up and ate a tiny bit. Then, a larger piece, and a still larger piece until the entire sundae was gone. Annabeth held up a picture of Nico, followed by his name scribbled on the back.

"Nico!" Thalia sighed contently. Annabeth just smiled to herself_. Wow. When Aphrodite packs you an aphrodisiac, it really does make you love some one. Wait. An aphrodisiac make you sexually desire some one_. The truth dawned on her quickly_. I just gave the daughter of Zeus an aphrodisiac made by Aphrodite on the day of her date with the 15 year old son of Hades. Oh. Crap_.

"All right. I told them. Their all changing now. Oh, by the way, Thalia, Nico is right outside the door. Should I let him in?" Juniper asked as she closed the door.

"Nico!" Thalia jumped off the bed, ran outside, and hug-tackled the Ghost King. He fell back in astonishment. Thalia nuzzled her chin into his muscular chest.

"I'm sorry about what I said. I know you're mad at me right now and that's probably why you just tackled me." Nico said, hoping against The Fates that the feeling he had earlier was wrong. Thalia slapped him in the face again, hard.

"That's for making me cry! And this, is for saying you love me." Thalia leaned down and kissed him on the lips. The group just stood there, speechless. Finally, Nico broke the kiss and the silence.

"Okay, who's calling the cab?"


	9. Chapter 9: I'M SO SCREWED

(( Wow. I feel very...summary-ish today. I don't own Percy Jackson & The Olympians or Chuck Norris. If anything, he owns the universe. Wait... I don't have a clue about how to do a summary! Oh well, I'll try a summary on Chapter 10.))

"Okay, who's calling the cab?" Nico asked innocently. Grover raised his hand and dragged Juniper back towards their room. Tyson backed up slowly and headed to his room. Percy and Annabeth looked down at the couple.

"What?" Thalia asked, nuzzling Nico's chest again. Annabeth pushed her fingers together once or twice. Percy looked over to her slowly, like on Family Guy. Nico stood up and copied him, Thalia still hanging onto him. Both boys looked at each other and then back to the blonde. Thalia giggled and swung on Nico for a moment, lifting her knees off the ground.

"You didn't get anything from Aphrodite during your visit...did you?" Percy asked solemnly.

"Yes. I did." She admitted, trying to smile.

"And, who did she tell you to give it to?" Nico inquired.

"Um...Percy..and...Thalia." Annabeth said quietly. Then, a low rumbling sound off to the side of their group drew their attention. A small hell hound sat there, trying to act fierce. It was about the size of a normal puppy, so it failed at this venture.

"Aw! You're so cute!" Thalia stood up, grabbed the hell pup and drew him close.

"She can walk straight, so she's not high." Percy noted.

"Aphrodisiac." Nico guessed.

"Yep. Made by Aphrodite herself." Annabeth nodded.

"And, now we have to go on a double date. With a drugged Thalia." Nico thought aloud.

"She isn't drugged!" Annabeth retaliated.

"Does she know that you gave it to her?" Percy asked.

"Well...no.

"Then, she's drugged. Travis and Connor used to do that to Aphrodite campers all the time." Nico explained, followed by a sigh. The hell pup jumped out of Thalia's arms and shook as it hid behind Nico's legs.

"Hey, there's something stuck to it. It looks like....a letter!" Percy bent down and pick it off of the hell pup. The front of it had Nico's name written on it. He gave him the letter and picked up the hell pup. He swung it around in his arms for a moment then gave it to Annabeth.

_This hell pup was born on your birthday._

_Take care of it as a task or whatever._

_Love,_

_Dad._

"First letter I've gotten from him." Nico said in surprise. He handed it to Percy and took the hell pup from Annabeth. Thalia popped up between the teens slowly, as if she was Jaws.

"Let's name it....SCOOBY!" Thalia clapped her hands. They heard a door unlock and open and all turned towards Grover.

"Cab will be here in a few minutes, so you might wanna---Get rid of the hell hound." Grover took a step back. Nico explained the situation and he immediately relaxed.

"Well, have you guys named it yet?" Grover asked as it affectionately licked Nico. The Ghost King moved his hand gently along it's head, petting it contently.

"First, we haven't officially named it yet. Second, Thalia wants to name it Scooby. Third, " Nico turned towards Percy, "now I guess we both have monster pets. Dude! We could be like the demigod Mafia! I could be the Godsfather!"

"Thanks for saying that. We all need to sign a 'Happy Grandparents Day' card and then drop it into Tartarus." Percy told his cousins. They shot him a strange look.

"What? He is our grandpa." Percy winked at Nico. The group laughed.

"Wow, that really lightened the mood. Thanks, Seaweed Brain." Annabeth complimented. Just then, Jaws attacked! She pinned Nico to the ground, kissing him while Scooby bit playfully at his sneakers.

"Thalia, stop!" Nico said in between kisses.

"What? The dog can keep biting your shoes but I can't kiss you?" Thalia asked, leaning back in. Nico shook harshly and then was very still. Percy immediately caught on.

"Oh my Gods! Thalia! You gave him a heart attack! He's...he's... uh..." Percy stood, stumped.

"He's in a love coma!" Annabeth finished for him. Scooby looked up, raising a nonexistent eyebrow. Nico turned his head and winked at the hell pup. It barked once and fell over onto it's side. It winked back at Nico. _If hell hounds could smile...._ Nico thought to himself, trying to hold in his own smile. Thalia stood up, then bent over his pants.

"Well, if he really is in a love coma, he shouldn't mind if I do this." Thalia placed a hand on his pants button and started to undo it. Nico shot up, grabbing her hands and pulling them away from that area. Thalia's lips collided with his in the same instance. Scooby sat up and cocked his head to one side, apparently confused.

"It's love, buddy. Us guys will never understand it." Percy said to the pup. This recieved him a thump on the head.

"You do to understand it! Or, should I tell them what happened last night?" Annabeth smiled slyly.

"No."

"What?" Thalia stopped kissing Nico long enough for them to ask.

"He got down to his underwear and a button up shirt and started to do something. I guess he thought I was asleep." Annabeth leaned in closer to Percy.

"Please?" He asked, his pleas falling on deaf ears. And death's ears, considering that the hell pup was still standing between them.

"He turned the TV onto some weird love song channel and---" Annabeth was interrupted as Percy's mouth met hers. Scooby turned around and shot Thalia and Nico a look that said 'Mommy! Daddy! Stranger Danger! Bad Touch! Stranger Danger!'. The puppy rushed over to them, landing on Nico's chest. He yawned contently and fell asleep. On Nico's chest. As Thalia leaned over them both. Under the effects of an aphrodisiac. Percy finally seperated his lips from Annabeth's, which was a mistake.

"And every time they said a girl's name, he would say mine instead." Annabeth finished quickly. Percy's hand quickly shot out and did something that made them all gasp. Annabeth's body shook from the shock of it.

"Percy. STOP TICKLING ME!" Annabeth laughed. ((A/N: You thought he slapped her?! Geeze, that's abusive! You mind hobo.))

"No. You told them, and in front of the puppy at that! You're gonna pay for it on this date." Percy finally finished tickling Annabeth when something hit him. Nico's shirt fell off of his shoulders and Annabeth gasped. During their moment, Thalia had tied up Nico, putting his hands above his head and tied his legs together.

"No! Bad Thalia!" Percy said, feeling a familiar tug in his stomach. Water sprayed out of his hand, hitting Thalia in the head. She backed up immediately.

"Ruining my fun." She pouted, turning away from Percy and sticking out her bottom lip. Nico just sighed and scooped Scooby off of his chest.

"We really should be downstairs right now. The cab should be here any moment." Nico pointed out.

"You're right! Okay, I'll go get the two pizzas from your room." Annabeth gasped.

"And I'll go get...like 8 sodas." Percy walked back into his room. He came back a moment later with a sack full of soda cans. Annabeth appeared with two pizza boxes. Percy looked down at Scooby, then back at Annabeth.

"We can't take him with us." Nico sighed, knowing what they would say. "I'll get Tyson to sit him." Nico walked away, the puppy following him. He knocked on Tyson's door and the Cyclops said he would babysit. The Ghost King took a step, turned towards the group, then had a different idea. He knocked on Grover's door and yelled.

"Grover! Take care of Tyson while we're gone! Run." Nico instructed the teens. They caught the elevator and rode it to the lobby, just as the cab was pulling up. They all piled in, with Percy and Annabeth seperating Thalia and Nico.

"Where to?" The cab driver asked.

"Any beach near here." Percy laughed, realizing they didn't even have an address or anything.

"Seriously?" The driver laughed as well.

"Yeah. The sooner we get there, the sooner I get Nico. So, let's go!" Thalia told him seriously.

"Drive real casually. Try to get stuck in traffic." Nico whispered, just loud enough for everyone to hear. The driver nodded and turned on the radio.

_Imma be doing my thang._

_Okay!_

"Wow. We've gotten quite a few Black Eyed Peas songs on this trip." Nico commented. Percy nodded his head in agreement. They drove for a few minutes and then arrived at the beach. They paid the driver and stepped out of the cab. The driver drove away, apparently startled by something he had seen. Annabeth turned around slowly, as if she was looking for an old friend, and not some monsters. She spotted two dracaena hanging out by a small shack and headed to them.

"Hello, hot stuff." One told Percy, winking.

"Forget hot stuff, look at his little friend." The second wriggled her eyebrows at Nico. Thalia and Annabeth met each other's looks, nodded, and then looked at the dracaena. Nico sighed and took something out of his pocket. He tossed the can of mace to Thalia. Percy uncapped Riptide and took a step forwards. Nico summoned his Stygian sword from under the earth and took his battle stance. The dracaena laughed and 6 more came up from behind the shack.

"Oh." Nico said aloud.

"Crap." Percy finished.

"Guys, we're--" Annabeth began, only to be cut off by a dracaena as it lunged forwards. Annabeth quickly pulled out her knife and stabbed it in the head. The dracaena crumbled down into ashes and vanished. Percy reached out with Riptide, slicing one dracaena's head off. Nico jumped up and rolled behind one, slashing it behind it's vulnerable legs. The dracaena all withered away, leaving nothing behind. The other five encircled them, each laughing and pointing a different weapon at them.

"Wait, I just realized something. And I mean JUST realized something." Percy said. Everyone froze, including the dracaena.

"What?" One asked, earning it a smack from another. Those two stepped outside of the circle and started to fight. They bumped into a third, and then a fourth. The fifth was still concentrated on the teens.

"How many of you guys are there? I mean, we kill like twenty a day." Nico explained, leaning on his sword. The dracanea looked down at it's fingers and began to count.

"Well, there's us, two other patrols over by the shore and --" The dracaena didn't get to finish, sliced straight through it's body by Riptide. The other four were still fighting, not even bothering with the demigods. Percy winked at Nico and threw his weapon into the fight. Nico copied him and they watched as the dracaena picked them up and began to use them. The two who were left fought each other to the death, one using Riptide, the other the Stygian sword. Annabeth picked up her knife and threw it. It sailed through one's head, then the other. They vanished a moment later, leaving behind the weapons. The boys retrieved them, storing them away. They made their way down to the beach and sat down on the sand, opening the soda and a box of pizza. Nico laughed suddenly, remembering a joke.

"Hey, Percy, do you know why the the tides have highs and lows?" Nico asked.

"Because they're like girls and have PMS?" Smack.

"No, because, during high tide, Chuck Norris is at home. During low tide, he's here, and the ocean wants to get the hell outta here." The group laughed and ate for a minute in silence, then Thalia started to giggle.

"I heard that baby's cry because they were born into a world with Chuck Norris in it." Thalia smiled brightly at Nico.

"I've heard that, when having sex, he doesn't wear a condom. Simply because, their is no protection from Chuck Norris." Annabeth added.

"I heard that he round house kicked a McDonald's from Florida to Kentucky, and it became the world's first KFC." Percy added, drinking some soda.

"Hey, let's take turns telling Chuck Norris jokes!" Annabeth suggested.

"Sure, I'll start since I came up with it." Nico offered.

"Shoot." Annabeth shrugged.

"I've heard that Ninjas want to grow up to be just like Chuck Norris. But, they all get killed by Chuck Norris instead." He turned towards Percy, suggesting it was his turn.

"I heard that Chuck Norris sets ants on fire with a magnifying glass."

"Okay?" Annabeth asked.

"At night." Percy added. He turned towards Annabeth.

"Chuck Norris CAN believe it's not butter." Annabeth shrugged.

"In the 90's, Chuck Norris came up with this organization, "Kick Drugs out of America." Thalia explained.

"Okay." Nico said.

"If it was called 'Round House Kick Drugs out of America', there would be no drugs left on the Earth." Thalia casually bit into her pizza slice.

"Chuck Norris doesn't go hunting. HE GOES KILLING!!!" Nico said in a sinister voice. The group laughed wildly, drawing some attention from tourists.

"Chuck Norris has two speeds. Walk, and KILL!" Percy added in the same voice.

"When Hades goes to bed at night, he checks under his bed for Chuck Norris." Annabeth said casually. A dark cloud floated over them, then lowered down to eye level. It looked like an Iris message, only in a dark cloud form.

"Nico! You told Chase! You are grounded when you get back!" Hades's voice rang out from the cloud. It disappeared as quickly as it appeared.

"This one will scare Annabeth. Chuck Norris recently destroyed the periodic table of elements. Simply because, the only element he needs to use, is the element of surprise." Thalia sank down low, looking both ways as if she was about to attack someone.

"Wow. Chuck Norris can slam a revolving door." Nico added, going in to the box of pizza for a third slice.

"You know the credits that roll after his show?" Percy asked Annabeth.

"Yeah?"

"That's actually a list of all the stuntmen he roundhouse kicked during the episode. Most of them died a second before the actual kick out of fear." Percy rolled around in the sand, messing up his hair.

"Funny. Well, Chuck Norris kicked a horse in the neck. Now, we have giraffes." Annabeth brushed the sand out of his hair.

"Oh yeah? The original titles for Alien VS. Predator and Freddy VS. Jason, were Chuck Norris VS. Predator and Chuck Norris VS. Freddy. He always won in the end." Thalia laughed.

"This one is an actual fact. If you spell Chuck Norris in Scrabble, you win. FOREVER." Nico said, taking on a very serious face.

"We should go buy a Scrabble board and try that." Thalia added. She jumped into the air, aiming for Nico. Time slowed down, like it was the Matrix. Nico slid underneath Thalia, lifting her above him and then putting her back down.

"Okay, why did time get all wacky?" Annabeth asked. Then, she noticed the person above them. There, looking down at his watch.

"I know why. My watch doesn't tell time, I tell my watch time. So, I told it to slow down. That way, my roundhouse kicks look awesome." The man laughed.

"Wow! You're Chuck Norris!" Percy said in amazement.

"Yes, Percy, I am." Chuck Norris took off his hat and sat down, taking a slice of pizza.

"So, what are you doing here?" Annabeth asked, still watching Thalia and Nico chase each other around in slow motion.

"Well, my dad told me to come down here and tell you guys that you did, quote, 'Okay with the paintball guns. Punks.' unquote." Chuck Norris laughed as Nico tripped over the sand.

"Wait! You're dad's Ares?!" Percy asked.

"Yeah. What, you thought all of my strenght was from years of training? Please. I got a normal hammer from him as a kid, and I built Stonehenge." He laughed at his own joke.

"Wow. It would make sense if you are a demigod. You didn't bathe in Styx, did you?" Percy asked.

"No, I thought about it once, but no. I couldn't think of anything to hold onto that I couldn't round house kick to the Underworld." Chuck Norris threw his hat over Nico's face, trying to protect him from Thalia's lips as they came in for an 11th swoop.

"Cool. Well, thanks for coming by." Percy said, shaking his hand.

"Any time, Percy. After all, you guys did save the world." He wrote down a number on a piece of paper and handed it to Percy.

"What's that for?" Annabeth asked.

"If you guys ever need a favor or two, just call me up." He took ran forward, then round house kicked the air. He shot off into the air and flew away in a twister.

"Hey, Annabeth?" Percy asked her.

"Yeah?"

"I heard that if Chuck Norris round house kicks the air, he causes a tornado." Smack.

"Seaweed Brain, let's help Nico up." Annabeth offered, taking the hat off of his head and throwing it into the air. It followed the tornado and then collided with Chuck Norris's head. Time returned to normal and Thalia was trying to kiss Nico one last time. Oddly enough, Nico was just sitting there, in a daze.

"What's wrong with you?" Percy asked.

"I had never been kissed before today, and now, I get like 300 of them." Nico answered.

"You know what you are?" Percy asked him, smiling.

"I'm Awesome!"

"No you're not dude, don't lie!"

"I'm awesome."

"You're driving around in some taxi ride." Annabeth added.

"All right guys, knock it off." Thalia laughed, taking Nico and kissing him.

"How long does that aphrodisiac work?" Percy asked.

"Actually, only an hour. It's really powerful, but only lasts that long, considering the amount I put in her ice cream." Annabeth consulted her watch.

"It's been an hour, hasn't it?" Percy asked.

"Yep. Well, in about three....two...one." Annabeth announced. She pointed towards Thalia, who just pulled away from Nico.

"Nico?! What the hell?!" She screamed.

"What?" He asked, confusedly.

"I told you! No tongue!" Thalia came back in for more.

"Nico, you little creeper." Percy said, shaking his head. Annabeth grabbed him, pushed him down, and copied them.

"Well, this is one heck of a double date." Nico told Percy between breaths.

"Definetly." Percy replied. Nico smiled and pushed Thalia away for a moment.

"I heard that, if you kiss Chuck Norris, he round house kicks your lips to your butt." Then, they were both silenced by the girls.

((FLUFFY AS HELL! Don't you love it?))


	10. Chapter 10: Dead man partying

((I think all those Chuck Norris jokes got to me. I had a dream where Chuck Norris and I got in an arguement that ended with him peeing in a can and making the world's first Red Bull. LOL. I might include the scene where Annabeth finds Percy singing and a bunch of other bloopers or extras at the end of the story. I don't own Percy Jackson & The Olympians. By the way, according to my time charts, it's...wow. Still Tuesday. This whole story started on a Sunday for them, and they've already knocked out.... 6 tasks. If I keep going at this rate, I may have a lot of extra time for them. I HAD AN EPIPHANY! ALL FOUR CHILDREN OF THE BIG THREE HAVE THE SAME COLOR HAIR!!!! weird..... Anyways, here's chapter 10.))

"So.... who wants to hear more about Percy's serenade?" Annabeth asked after a few minutes of kissing. Percy shot up, grabbing her and throwing her over his shoulder.

"No. We're going to the hotel. Just to make this more fun...Nico...shadow travel us there." Percy said with a smirk.

"But then I'll get all tired and need to go to bed." Nico protested.

"What if....when we get there.... I..." Thalia whispered something in his ear softly. His eyes grew as wide as possible and he began to lick his lips. He nodded enthusiastically from underneath the punkette.

"What did you tell him?" Percy asked, now suspicious.

"I told him I'd do the Cha Cha Slide with him and give him a massage and some ice cream." Thalia smiled smugly.

"All right. Just don't do any other kind of dance." Percy winked at his cousin. She gave him a look that said 'Really? But, what if I want to?'. She smiled slyly and was flung into the air by Nico as he stood up. He caught her and set her on the ground.

"What the Hades!? When did you learn to do that?" Annabeth asked from Percy's shoulder.

"Just now." Nico replied smugly, recieving a playful thumping from Thalia.

"What if you dropped me?" Thalia asked sternly.

"I'd be bacon right about now. Right, Zeus?" Nico asked the clouds, recieving a flash of lightning near his feet in reply. Nico didn't jump but just stood there.

"Okay, see you at the next family reunion!" Percy laughed.

"We should run now." Thalia pointed out.

"Oh, definetly." Nico grabbed the group and ran underneath a lifeguard's tower, jumping through the shadow and transporting them to his room. He stumbled over to the bed and fell down onto it, removing his shirt. Percy walked out of the room with Annabeth, closing the door quietly. Thalia walked over to Nico, turning on the TV and dimming the lights. Nico looked up, able to see perfectly in the dark as Thalia stumbled around the room. He had to use every bone in his body to help contain his laughter. She finally fell down, onto what she thought was his foot under the cover. Nico's 'foot' moved around under the 'covers'.

"Thalia. I suggest you move before I get zapped to death." Nico said lightly. Thalia looked up at him in dark, clearly confused. His 'foot' got larger and she immediately backed off of it.

"This got awkward quickly...." She laughed nervously.

"Yeah.... I wouldn't suggest a massage now." Nico laughed as well. They sat there for a moment, before Nico got up and peered into the fridge, looking for ice cream. He found it and then made his way to the bed, where Thalia was removing her clothing. Nico stopped in his tracks, set down the ice cream calmly and then jumped onto the bed, landing next to her. She looked up at him in the dark for a moment, before looking around slowly. The door was locked, the TV was off, the curtains were drawn, and the lights were dimmed.

"You know what we should do now?" Nico asked, seriously as he took off his shirt.

"I do." Thalia leaned forward and kissed him. During that moment, both teens felt around for certain objects.

"Pillow Fight!!!!" Nico yelled, hitting Thalia with the pillow he had reached for.

"I am so gonna win this!" Thalia giggled, hitting Nico with her own pillow.

"No, I am already winning!" Nico replied, jumping into the air and dodging her attack. Thalia jumped up as well, both going up as high as they could.

"And why's that?" She asked contently.

"Well, first off, you're in gym shorts and a white t-shirt. Second, I had ice cream. Third, you have to do the Cha Cha Slide for me later. And, finally,...." There was a rush of cold air, and Thalia fell onto the bed. She looked around for a moment, not finding Nico. A hand reached out and grabbed her, it's cold skin alarming her.

"I can do this and you can't hurt me." Nico's fingers danced on her rib cage, going up and down her side, as if he were playing a xylophone. She was laughing too hard to take action. Finally, she stopped laughing. And standing. And breathing.

"Oh my gods, Thalia!" Nico picked her up and began to administer CPR. She smiled wickedly as he came down, causing him to stop.

"WHAT THE HELL!" Nico yelled, throwing his hands in the air in defeat.

"Well, I had to do something to make you stop tickling me." Thalia said, getting off of the bed.

"Hmmph!" Nico turned around and faced the wall, sticking out his lower lip. Thalia rolled her eyes and turned on the lights. Nico rushed over to the TV and frantically searched through the channels.

"What are you looking for?" Thalia asked.

"I can't find it! Aw, screw it." Nico took his Ipod Touch out of his pocket and selected the song. Thalia immediately recognized it and quaked in fear.

"You promised." Nico stuck out his tongue.

"Dang." Thalia started to do the Cha Cha Slide. At the end, Percy barged in and looked around wildly.

"What?" Nico asked, standing in front of Thalia. She slid under the bed, trying to hide herself.

"First, she isn't wearing a bra, is she? Second, I just got an idea! And third, I need about tree fiddy." Percy stuck his hand out.

"You need what?" Nico asked, never having seen an episode of South Park in his life.

"Never mind. But, let's have a party!" Percy jumped up out of excitement.

"Why not!" Nico joined in. They looked and acted so alike now, anyone would swear they were related. Well, biologically related.

"I'm game." Thalia said from under the bed.

"You can come out." Percy pointed out.

"Not really. See, this is a t-shirt....and it's kinda cold in here....." She replied nervously. Her head poked out from under the bed to watch the boys.

"Whatever. I'll go make the calls while Annabeth is making the plans." Percy started towards the door, but Nico grabbed his arm.

"Whoa! You guys were gonna do this even if we said no?!" Nico asked.

"Yeah." Percy sighed.

"Good. We must be crazy if we answered that." Nico laughed. Percy walked out side and shut the door. Thalia crawled out from under the bed, guarding her breasts.

"Please. I'm not gonna do anything." Nico reassured her, laying down on the bed and changing the channels on the TV. Thalia jumped over him and laid down upside down on the bed to watch. Nico's eyes grew wide and Thalia could feel his gaze on her.

"Stop staring." She kicked him.

"Sorry. Hey, let's make a list of the people we want to invite from camp!" Nico suggested. He rummaged through his bag, finding a small box and a notebook with a pen clipped to the spiral binding.

"What's in the box?" Thalia asked, picking it up and examining it. The dark purple box was tied with a yellow ribbon, looking rather familiar to her.

"You'll see it later. Maybe tonight if this party goes right." Nico smiled slyly. Thalia got up and went into her bag, grabbing a white box of almost the same size, bringing it over to him. She laid it down on the bed and, just as he was reaching out to grab it, she picked it up quickly, slipping it in her shirt.

"And, same to you." She replied, giving him the eyes. You know, that look you get when someone likes you and wants to tell you, even though you already know?

"Which 'same'? The 'wait till tonight' same or the 'I just put it in my shirt' same?" Nico asked, trying to hold in his laughter.

"Okay, mind hobo. Who should we put down first?" Thalia asked.

"How about Pollux? And the Stolls." Nico suggested, writing them down. He set the pen aside for a moment as Thalia thought.

"Michael Yew. Clarisse and Chris." Thalia picked up the pen and wrote it down for him.

"And, Katie Gardner. And Malcom, Mark, and Sherman." Nico gave her the notebook so she could write the names down.

"All right....who else?" Thalia asked.

"Castor, Silena, Beckendorf, Lee Fletcher, and...Ethan Nakamura." Nico smiled to himself. Thalia looked up and gave him a look that plainly said 'Are you insane?'.

"You do know they are all dead....right?" Thalia asked.

"You do know you're talking to the Ghost King....Right?" Nico shot back. She just smiled and shook her head, writing down the names. Nico's hand reached out and grabbed her head. She looked up, wondering what the heck was going on. He let his hand fall down her head, through her hair, and onto her back. He began the cycle again, stroking his girlfriend's hair.

"I'm not a cat." She said indignantly. Then, she started to make a noise that sounded like thunder.

"Are you...purring?" Nico asked, amused.

"No!" She said, lightning shooting out of her eyes and blasting a portion of the wall.

"Yes you are. Hey, what was that cat's name on Krypto the Superdog?" Nico asked.

"No! That will not be my nickname, or I'm calling you the Burger King!" Thalia set the notebook on the floor and looked into her box.

"That's all right. Besides, I use burgers and fries to call up the dead. But, if you do, you'll have to be the Dairy Queen. And, you know the joke." Nico smiled.

"No, what?" Thalia asked, tilting her head.

"This is going to have some mild language...." Nico warned her.

"So?" Thalia asked.

"Okay, here it is. Now, this is a prank call or a text forward message. This is usually a forward though." Nico cleared his throat a few times.

"Get on with it." Thalia rolled her eyes.

"All right. HOLY CRAP! That crazy ass clown Ronald McDonald just killed the Burger King in front of the Dairy Queen over that red head Wendy! Hey, you coming to the funeral?" Nico looked over at Thalia as she laughed. _Wow. She's even more beautiful when she laughs. Especially when her eyes light up with laughter like that._ He thought.

"And then what?" Thalia asked.

"Well, if it's a text, you usually get an LOL as a reply. But, if you're prank calling, they ask 'What?' or something like that like most people would. Then, in that one moment afterwards, it's best to go 'Come on man! The funeral is by the Pizza Hut! Oh, and Captain D will be there with that weirdo, IHOP. And, you know their gonna have some fun with my Taco Bell.' And then, you hang up." Nico motioned with his hands.

"Just wow." Thalia siad, wiping a tear from her face. Nico looked softly at her, taking in everything. His eyes paused on her....box for a moment, then passed on. He looked her down, then went back up to her beautiful face. Just then, Annabeth knocked on the door and entered.

"Guys! I have the plan ready! You have your invite list?" She asked, jumping up and down with blueprints in her hands.

"Yeah. Oh, if they have a line through it, don't worry about them." Thalia crossed off a few names. She threw the notebook to Annabeth.

"These lines are only on dead people's names." Annabeth read the list.

"Like she said. Hey, where are we having this party anyways?" Nico asked noticing how small the room would look with like thirty people in it.

"In the ball room, but, I talked to Aphrodite and Hestia. Aphrodite agreed to pay for the party, but only if you and Nico kiss and Percy and I kiss. Hestia said she'd actually come!" Annabeth did a little happy dance while saying this. Nico threw the pen at the TV, hitting the power button and turning it off. Annabeth ran out of the room to tell Percy, closing the door. Suddenly, Aphrodite's voice called out and the lights dimmed.

"Kiss already! And, do it passionately." Thalia turned towards Nico and kissed him, falling onto him. Nico stopped after 2 full minutes.

"You couldn't go any longer?" Aphrodite's voice asked.

"Well, I'm not Percy! I can't hold my breath forever!" He laughed. Aphrodite's voice vanished, leaving them alone.

"So...what would I have to do to get my gift now?" Thalia asked innocently.

"The same thing I would have to do." Nico took the box off of the bed and tossed it between his hands.

"We have a few hours to kill. The way they were acting, it's gonna be at 8...." Thalia trailed off.

"I know exactly what to do." Nico grabbed his bag and raced off to the bathroom. He came out, wearing some normal pajamas. A black button up satin pajama shirt and matching shorts.

"Aw, no Emo Pooh Bear today?" Thalia joked.

"Nope, now, get in bed." Nico said, pointing under the covers. She obeyed, wondering if they really would do this. Nico grabbed something out of his bag and threw the bag to the floor, crawling under the covers with her. He opened the object and turned it's contents until he found what he was looking for.

"You want to read it?" He asked her. She nodded and took the book.

" Up the front steps, up the marble staircase inside, and still Professor McGonagall didn't say a word to him." Thalia read. Yes, they were reading the Sorcerer's Stone. They read it for about half an hour then fell asleep. They woke up a few hours later, with someone beating on the door.

"Hey! Love Birds! Wake up!" Travis called.

"Forget it Travis. We both know what they were doing in there. They're probably sleeping it off." Connor laughed. Nico looked around for a moment, shifting his head between his two pillows. Then, he felt something small and round protrude from his pillows.

"Wha-- NICO! GET OFF OF MY--" Thalia was cut off as Nico's hand shot up and covered it. They heard a strange metallic noise and soon realized what it was. The Stolls were trying to break into the room. Nico motioned for her to follow him. They hid behind the bathroom door, waiting for the moment. The Stolls broke in, rolling around like they were police men.

"FREEZE! MIAMI POLICE DEPAR-- Oh. Travis, they aren't here." Connor told his brother.

"I can see that." Travis snorted. Nico and Thalia jumped out, yelling random words such as Osama and Hussien and trilling.

"Holy crap! Terrorist attack!" Nico slammed Connor onto the floor, rolling around with him for a minute. Connor caught on quickly, winking at Nico.

"Help! This one's got me!" He allowed himself to be pinned by Nico.

"Osama!!!! Aiaiaiaiaiai!" Nico trilled.

"NO! Wait. That's Nico. And that's Thalia." Travis recognized them.

"And, aren't most terrorists Muslim?" Connor asked his twin.

"That's so racist and stereotypical. Just like I'm a punk, so I must cut myself. Or, Nico's pale so he must not get out much." Thalia pointed out. Nico nodded, rolling off of Connor.

"Plus, according to the law, we might be terrorists. I mean, do you know how many places have been destroyed by demigods fighting monsters?" Nico asked.

"Well, we robbed about six places on the way here while trying to escape some dracaena." Travis laughed.

"No, seven. When they threw that hot dog stand, one landed in my mouth. That counts." Connor pointed out.

"Let me guess how you got here. Party Ponies?" Nico asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah. They really know how to party. Actually, a few of them are downstairs dancing. Some are in wheel chairs, but most have on fake feet and magic pants." Travis replied, shrugging. The group walked out, shut the door, and took the elevator to the ball room. They stood in amazement. Multi colored streamers hung everywhere, falling down gently and then rising back up. Balloons floated lazily, some being shot with spitballs by Apollo's children. Centuars walked around or wheeled on wheelchairs, blending in with the crowds and calling out the names of different chapters. Most people were dancing, the DJ being none other than....

"All right, this is DJ....wait, before I say my name, let me tell you that I had to draw this out of a hat. Namely, with a few names submitted by Tyson and the Demeter cabin." They all jumped up and down once or twice, cheering. "All right. This is Micheal Yew! Or, as DJ to this event..... DJ SunFlower." Everyone laughed, until Nico came up and grabbed the microphone.

"Hey, at least they got one part right." Nico yelled out. Thalia grabbed the microphone from him and placed her head in her hands and shook it at him. The crowd laughed at this gesture.

"And, we have a special surprise that no one saw coming." Thalia handed the microphone back to Nico.

"I am bringing back Silena, Beckendorf, Ethan Nakamura, Castor, and any one else you guys want to see! Tonight, there's dead men partying!" Nico announced, throwing his hands into the air. The crowd cheered fiercely, some people actually crying. Micheal looked over at Nico and nodded his thanks. One camper actually grabbed Nico and threw him off of the DJ station, letting him and Thalia surf the crowd towards Percy, Annabeth, and Grover. They found a few beachballs being thrown around during that time and decided to hit them around to different people. Finally, they landed near the group.

"Nico. Are you serious?" Pollux asked, walking up to them. His eyes were red, as if he had been crying.

"Yeah. In fact, let's go." Nico offered.

"Right now?!" Pollux asked, unable to keep the excitement out of his voice. There was a flash and everyone in the room looked away. After the light cleared, a few familiar people were standing there. Aphrodite, Hestia, Apollo, Dionysus, Hephesteaus and a long haired woman. She was tall, standing about 5'6". Grover's eyes widened as he saw her.

"Nemesis." He said, bowing to the gods. They greeted the group and Hestia walked away to join the party.

"We're here because we heard Hugo's decision." Dionysus began. The others all nodded, their feet becoming very interesting. Nemesis took a step forward and looked at Nico carefully.

"Just get the favorite food of the person you want to see and meet me out back in five minutes." Nico ran outside, dragging Thalia with him. They took the long way through the ground floor, heading out of the emergency exit. When they arrived outside, Nico concentrated hard on the ground. All of the ground moved, revealing a perfectly square pit. The gods and Pollux appeared a few moments later, hands full of food.

"All right. First, Castor. Just toss the food in." Nico stepped out of the way. Dionysus and Pollux looked at each other, nodded, and threw it in. Nico uttered some words in Greek, and spirits appeared everywhere. They all vanished, leaving behind Castor.

"Dad? Pollux?" The spirit asked.

"Castor?" Dionysus ran forward to greet the boy. He hugged the spirit, threatening to crush his ghostly form. And yes, gods can touch spirits.

"Castor." Pollux's eyes filled with tears.

"What's this? He's crying?" A voice asked. There was a flash of utter darkness, and then, Hades appeared in his casual wear.

"Well, think of it this way, Father. You've lost me, and you could never see me. Then, one day, a boy says he will bring me back, for nothing in return, and for one entire night." Nico asked his father. The god's eyes filled with a single tear. They disappeared instantly.

"Very well then. Just...don't over do it. Now then, I must be getting back. Cerberus and I were playing fetch when I left." The god disappeared as quickly as he came. Apollo stepped up, looking at Nico. The god had chosen his regular form of a teenage boy. Nico nodded and motioned to the pit. Apollo tossed in his offering and waited, crossing his fingers as Nico summoned Lee. Lee materialized out of the other spirits, standing in front of Apollo.

"Dad." Lee practically tackled Apollo. They stepped out of the way to talk and Aphrodite stepped forward. She gently dropped in a salad and turned towards the pit, ready to see her daughter again. Nico repeated the ritual, summoning Silena. The mother and daughter cried for a moment, until Hephasteaus picked them both up and deposited them to the side with Apollo, Lee, Dionysus, Castor, and Pollux. He dropped in his offering and turned towards Nico. Nico summoned up Beckendorf and then turned toward Nemesis.

"You sure you want to do this?" He asked the goddess of balance and vengance.

"No. But, I know I need to." She replied, staring into the darkness. She dropped her offering into the pit, a tear rolling down her cheek. Nico reached deep inside himself and pulled hard at the energy he found. _I've already called up four spirits. I have to leave enough energy to support them all night._ He reminded himself. He rubbed his skull ring for good luck and then proceeded with the ritual. A moment later, spirits appeared, each calling out to Nico. Only one stepped forward, taking shape.

"Ethan." His mother said, hugging her child.

"Mother." He replied coldly.

"Why the tone?" She asked, wiping her tears.

"I can only see you out of one eye." Ethan said jokingly.

"Forget it. Nico has offered to allow you and the four others over there to reside here for tonight, if not only so we can see you again. Now, please." Nemesis took her son and walked calmly back into the hotel with the other gods. Nico concentrated and closed the pit again. Thalia took his hands and walked towards the building. Nico stopped, pulling Thalia towards him.

"Okay, I can't take it anymore. Maybe it's because of my ADHD. Let's open our gifts now...shall we?" Nico asked, taking his box out of his pocket. He traded it with Thalia. Thalia took the ribbon off of the box and placed it on her arm. She opened the box and smiled brightly.

((Okay then. The contents of the boxes will be revealed later. By the way, that is a real joke. But, the second part to it that starts with Pizza Hut, is my little add on.))


	11. Chapter 11: Partying again

((Chapter 10 was a little short and I wasn't on for quite some time due to internet problems. But, I got it done! And, I have chapter 11 right here. *Insert usual disclaimer here*.))

"Nico, when did you go out to buy these?" Thalia asked, taking the items out of the box. On a small white pillow sat two earrings. They were both yellow, outlined in black, and shaped like thunder bolts. Thalia switched them with her usual skull earrings and set those in the box.

"Well, I kinda snuck out late last night and found those at this shopping pavilion. I thought those would be kinda cool for you to wear. And, if you somehow manage to shoot lightning from your ears, it'll be appropriate." Nico rubbed the back of his neck. _Now that I think about it, lightning bolt shaped earrings are kinda tacky for the daughter of Zeus. Wait. How do I know what's tacky now a days? I've spent too much time being trapped by the Aphrodite cabin._ Nico shuddered at the thought of that endless night. Thalia gave him a strange look and put the box in her pocket.

"You okay?" She asked, putting her hand on his shoulder.

"Yeah. I just remembered something is all. By the way, you're still wearing your t-shirt." Nico realized.

"Oh. Right. I'll head upstairs and put on something after you open your box." Thalia replied, shaking her arms against the cold.

"And, when did you have the time to do this?" Nico asked, taking his box and shaking it.

"I've had it for some time. I didn't know why, but I saw it and immediately decided to buy them. It was spontaneous, but now they serve a purpose." Thalia looked into his eyes. The moon reflected off of his dark eyes, creating a sinister yet beautiful effect. Nico smiled and shook his head as he opened the box. The contents jumped together, forming a line and refusing to seperate. Nico felt it for a moment then his eyes widened.

"Hematite rings." He said, his fingers tracing the red lines in the rings. The magnetic minerals were taken out of the box and seperated, each going on a different finger.

"Yeah. I bought three, though I don't know why. I guess you could wear one on each hand and then save the other for the ichor." Thalia suggested.

"How do you know about this kind of ichor? I know that the monsters we kill leak it, but how did you know about this type?" Nico transfered the rings, placing one on each of his ring fingers and slipping the third into his pocket.

"I got bored one day and read up on it. Turns out, hematite is an old Greek word for blood. Mainly because when you break hematite, you get a red dust called red ichor." Thalia shrugged.

"Yeah, you can use the ichor to help heal wounds. It's high in iron, so it helps to clot the blood. And, the spiritual implications are enormous!" Nico gestured with his hands.

"I know. They can absorb negative feelings, help clear your mind, and do a bit of a mental tune-up."

"Yeah. But, if it breaks, it has absorbed too much negativity." Nico's thoughts immediately flew back to what Bianca had told him about the fatal flaw of all of Hade's children. _Maybe I could use this to help to not hold grudges. And, if I do, it will absorb the negative energy and shatter. If it does that, I'll just pack away the ichor that comes out and try not to hold any more grudges._ He looked over at Thalia who was shaking in the cold.

"You okay?" He asked, taking a good look at her.

"Yeah. It's just freezing out here. The worst part is that it's been hot this entire week. You'd expect it to be warm during the night." Thalia shivered again.

"Here, let's go inside." Nico wrapped his arm around her waist and they walked back inside the building. They could hear the music from the party as they walked through the lobby. They caught the elevator and headed upstairs, where Thalia changed into a different shirt. They went back downstairs to the party and listened as Micheal Yew sent out shout outs to different demigods from others. They finally found Percy and Annabeth and decided to sit with them at a nearby table. Unfortunately, about 30 young demigods ran up, asking a million questions and holding pictures and pens.

"When did they get our pictures?" Percy asked the group, noticing that his was of himself swimming in the lake at camp.

"No idea. Mine's of me eating a taco...." Nico noticed. He signed it and passed it back just as the microphone turned back on.

"All right! Well, we've been going at this for only 47 minutes yet everyone is so pumped! And, a special thanks goes out to Nico Di Angelo for bringing back our friends for tonight!" DJ SunFlower raised the microphone and gestured towards the back of the room, where young demigods seperated, revealing Nico, Thalia, Percy, and Annabeth all hurriedly writing on photos. Nico stood up and took a polite bow and then sat back down as the crowd surged back towards them.

"Sucks to be you right now!" Ethan laughed at them as he floated by with his mother.

"Hey, you're the one hanging out with your mom." Percy shot back. Her immediately regreted it once he saw the look in Nemesis's eyes.

"Watch yourself, Jackson." She warned and then rejoined her son. DJ SunFlower appeared amid the crowd and began to make his way towards them.

"Hey! Let the DJ through!" Thalia ordered, waving her hand at the children. Micheal came up, out of breath.

"Thanks, Thalia. Oh, by the way, there are quite a few children of Hermes in there." Micheal gasped.

"How do you know?" Nico asked, tilting his head to the side.

"Because, I was smart enough to empty my pockets and tape them up, yet some of them still got in there." He laughed, straightening up.

"So did you just come over here to talk?" Percy asked, trying to ignore the group of girls behind their table who were giggling in his direction.

"Yeah. And, I kinda wanted to say thanks to Nico." He admitted, throwing a nod in Nico's direction. Nico nodded back solemnly, trying to keep his eyes open.

"Well, let's just hope I can stay awake through the night to keep all these guys up in our world." Nico yawned. Percy passed him a soda, which he immediately opened and got sprayed with Coke.

"Percy!" Nico growled. The Coke lifted off of him and back into the can as Percy closed his eyes. Nothing was left on the teen.

"At least you're awake now." Percy shrugged.

"Speaking of awake, can you guys think of any songs that would keep him up?" Micheal suggested.

"Let's do a lot of 3OH!3 and some Kesha." Percy suggested.

"Mix in some Three Days Grace, Three Doors Down, and Nickelback." Annabeth thought for a moment.

"And, finally, put some Black Eyed Peas on top." Thalia blinked once or twice as a fight erupted in front of them between two campers.

"Best served warm." Nico laughed, noticing how they sounded like they were listing a recipe, not a playlist. Percy and Nico stood up and seperated the two campers.

"What is this about?" Percy asked his camper calmly.

"He said that Hermes is a man hoe!" The camper answered, his eyes full of anger. Percy told Nico, who brought the two campers together.

"Okay, so who's your parent?" Nico asked his little buddy.

"Apollo." He asked, moving his blonde hair.

"Do you know how many children Apollo has?" A fifth voice asked. Lee and his father had been listening.

"It's true. I have a lot of kids. Ladies can't resist me." Apollo flipped his hair. He looked like he belonged at a college party. He and Lee walked away and left the group alone.

"There. Even Apollo admitted he has a lot of kids too. Now, if Hermes is a man hoe, doesn't that make your dad one?" Nico asked the demigod. The demigod shook his head and held his hand out to the other.

"I'm sorry." He said sincerely.

"It's okay." They shook hands and walked away, only to leave them to the crowd. They nodded to each other and ran back to their table with Annabeth and Thalia. Campers swarmed around them, asking a billion questions at once. But, one was louder than the others. Probably because the idiot had grabbed Michael's microphone and was being chased around the DJ station by DJ SunFlower.

"How about you and Nico fight, Percy?" The kid asked over the microphone. Nico looked over at Percy and shrugged. Percy nodded and cleared the kids, sending everyone up against the walls. He grabbed the kid with the microphone and took it.

"All right. We'll do a little play fight. But, a few rules. First, we won't actually hurt each other. Second, if we do, get us the usual medical supplies for half-bloods. If you don't know what they are, they are the brownies that taste good and heal you. Oh, and the apple juice." A few campers laughed, realizing the similarities. Nico grabbed the microphone away from Percy.

"But, we'll need everyone to stand against the walls. And, we'll need some mood music. DJ SunFlower! Put on.....something energitic." Nico shrugged and turned off the microphone, tossing it to the DJ. He nodded and put on I'm Not Your Boyfriend Baby by 3OH!3. This recieved a few laughs and one 'I'll get you back later' from Nico.

"Well, apparently our boyfriends are now gay!" Thalia announced over the crowd. More laughter ensued.

"Hey, can't you hear the song? I'm Not Your Boyfriend, Baby!" Nico told Thalia as he walked over to her. The crowd 'oooo'ed at this and Percy threw something into the air. His pen unfolded into the ancient sword, RipTide.

"Wow. Show off." Nico muttered under his breath. He opened a small hole in the floor and reached into it, pulling out his Stygian sword. The room got silent as the song and the fight started.

_I'm not your boyfriend baby!_

Nico and Percy started to casually walk around each other in a circle, until the 'kiss' part. Then, they lunged and their swords shot up a spark. They parted, circling again. Then, Nico lunged at Percy. He twisted the blade around in the air as he lunged, creating a scary scene for those who didn't know that Percy took a bubble bath of Hell in the Styx. He purposely hit Percy in the forehead and the sword stayed there for a moment, until Percy stepped back, not a mark on his body.

"Come on man. Don't go easy on me. Let's really give them a show." Nico said, walking away from Percy. Percy shrugged and threw the object he gripped tightly in his hand. Yes, it hit Nico. In the face. Hard.

"Hey! Your shoe! Really?!" Nico asked, taking it and throwing it over to Annabeth. Percy took that moment and rushed forward, his sword pointed at Nico. The Son of Hades jumped out of the way easily, then looked back to see Percy still running. He stopped at the punch bowl and took a glass.

"Sorry. Got a little thirsty." Percy announced over the crowd and the music. Laughter filled the room again. The punch from the punch bowl rose up, jumping onto the floor and creating a solid wall of what appeared to be Kool-Aid.

"Maybe you need a drink too." Percy threw the Kool-Aid at Nico, who easily dodged it again. The Kool-Aid morphed in shape, looking like the mascot of that drink. Percy made the Kool-Aid Man's mouth move and began to lip sync it with his words.

"Yo man, I'm getting the hell outta here!" Kool-Aid Man yelled, before running back to his punch bowl.

"Aw, do you really have to go?" Nico asked, trying his best not to laugh.

"Oh, yeah!" Percy made the man say before he returned to the bowl. The laughter grew around them. Percy put his cup on the table and lunged. They began to go at it, until it was more instinct and less of an actual fight. Annabeth looked into the crowd and looked over at Thalia.

"Are they...."

"Yep. They're holding a conversation while sword fighting. In a hotel. Full of demigods and gods. In Miami."

"Wow. Well, we live a fabulous life." Annabeth said with apparent sarcasm.

"Oh, yeah." Thalia agreed. Annabeth looked away as Nico's sword slammed into Percy's chest.

"What's wrong?" Thalia asked.

"I know he's invincible, but the idea of him dieing...." She shuddered.

"It'll happen to him eventually. Plus, if Nico does somehow manage to hit him in his one spot, you'd probably do the Juliet thing." Thalia replied, watching the fight and wincing as Nico barely dodged Percy's last attack.

"Yeah. But, even though our parents hate each other, we're still in love. Just like you and Nico." Annabeth explained.

"Just watch the fight." Thalia sighed.

Nico was parrying, ducking, dodging, and attacking on pure instinct now. He was actually talking to Percy about what to bring the girls to do tomorrow.

"Come on! It'll be fun!" Percy urged.

"I don't know. It doesn't seem like her kind of thing." Nico replied, his sword bashing against Percy's again.

"Dude. You guys are 17. Live it up a little." Percy caught Nico sword and twisted it, sending himself flipping through the air and behind Nico.

"No."

"Please."

"Percy, it's a camping trip. In Miami. What are our trees going to be, street lights?" He asked, turning around and slashing downwards, cleanly cutting the air beneath Percy as he jumped.

"Well then, we'll go to Alabama! I'll drive us there!" Percy offered.

"I don't know." Nico thought about it. He swung and Riptide stuck itself to his sword's hilt, just above his hand.

"I'll try to convice Hades to get you a 2010 Mustang." Percy twisted his hand, sending Nico's sword into the air. The song ended and he caught the sword by the blade, holding it out to Nico.

"Deal." Nico took the sword and sheathed it, sending it back into the ground. Percy set Riptide aside, knowing that it would appear in his pocket in a moment anyways. He shook Nico's hand and the crowd roared.

"Well, that was short...but...totally awesome!" Michael announced over the microphone. The boys sat back down at their table and signed some more autographs, sharing a kiss with the girls every now and then. Finally, the campers left them alone to go dance or show off their new autographs or eat. The Party Ponies were still running around like idiots, shooting rubber suction cup arrows at people and walls, while the Apollo kids were still spitballing balloons. Most of the Athena kids had crowded around an adult at the back of the room, while most other children rushed over to the opposite side, then back again. Percy nudged Annabeth with his elbow and they went over to the seperate corners. Annabeth calmly walked over to the crowd of Athena campers, squeezing through the crowd until she was at the front, where she could see the creator of all the chaos. A beautiful woman gazed down at her, eyes grey like storm clouds.

"Hello, Annabeth." The goddess greeted, giving her daughter a hug.

Percy walked over to the other corner, only to find a much different result. Everybody moved away as soon as they saw him, creating two lines for him to walk through. Tyson was standing beside a man wearing a Hawiian shirt and khaki pants. He had a tacklebox in one hand, and a fishing pole in another. He banged it against the ground, transforming into a trident.

"Hello, Percy." Poseidon greeted his son. Tyson grabbed them both and dragged them back to their table, where Nico and Thalia sat a little too close together, with Scooby sprawled out across their laps. A moment later, Annabeth and Athena joined them.

"Perseus." The goddess's eyes peirced him to his core. _Lady Athena, I love your daughter. I don't understand why you dislike me so much! My dad doesn't hate you any more. Get. Over. It._ Percy thought hoping the goddess could hear him this time. Her hand flew up to his face, only to stop at his hair. She simply placed her hand on his head and brought him closer to her. She looked into his eyes and spoke.

"It's because you're with my daughter. It's a mother-in-law complex." She pushed him back again, straighening his hair. She realized what she was doing and quickly stopped.

"Hello, Annabeth." Poseidon greeted the blonde. _You're still innocent....right?_ He thought. As if she was indeed reading his thoughts, she nodded to him.

"Hey, Poseidon." Thalia and Nico waved lazily. He waved back at them and watched as Tyson rocked back and forth on his feet. The Cyclops seem to know what was going to happen next.

"Tyson, why don't you see what you can do with the laser lights in here? Perhaps, try to upgrade the stereo system?" Poseidon suggested. Tyson nodded at his father and turned to his brother.

"Sorry. I got to go upgrade stereo and lights." The Cyclops said, as if his brother had just arrived, not been standing there the entire time.

"It's okay. We'll have time to talk on the trip." Percy yelled after the Cyclops after he walked off.

"That is the reason behind our visit." Poseidon said. He pulled up two chairs and sat down. Percy helped Athena into the other, recieving a cold, yet not the usual cold, gaze in return.

"You see...Zeus and I don't like the ideas of leaving our daughters unattended with you and the Ghost King." Athena explained. Nico nodded quietly, as if he expected as much. Thalia's eyes closed and her head rolled onto his shoulder.

"And....she's asleep." Poseidon announced after feeling her pulse. Scooby sat up in her lap and put his front legs on the table and looked around, as if he wanted filled in. Nico explained the situation and Scooby nodded wisely.

"Raff!" He barked to Athena. The goddess thought for a moment then replied in English.

"I know. But, still, we can't leave them unattended. Even if they don't do anything, Zeus and Hades will try to blast the other one's child to bits!" Athena threw up her hands in an explosive gesture, which was very unlike the Goddess of Wisdom.

"Yeah. That sounds like our family." Nico replied. The entire group nodded, including Scooby. He jumped up and down once and then barked.

"True dat." Poseidon said. Athena smiled towards Annabeth, a look on her face that said 'This is him in five years'. Annabeth looked over at Percy, trying to imagine him as a gangster. It looked all too good. Her temperature rose and she had to think of other things.

"Wait. If you guys have to tell us what I think you guys are trying to say, please do it like your gangsta." Nico smiled devilishly.

"No, I re-" Athena was cut off as all thre demigods and the hell pup put their hands(or paws) over their heads and said 'LALALALALALALALA!'.(Which was a series of panting noises for Scooby)

"Very well!" The Olympians announced over the noise. (WARNING! FUNNY BUT BAD LANGUAGE AHEAD!!!)

"A'ight, bitches. This is how is gonna go down." Poseidon said, bobbing his head back and forth rhythmically. Athena did the same but did the head bob and the Z-shaped snap.

"Yo asses are going through the ghetto and into the grass, aight? We gotta tag along with ya dick heads and make sure your asses don't get shot!" Athena snapped her fingers again and Poseidon and she were dressed in hoodies, hats, and mini mini skirts. And yes, Poseidon had one too. He quickly changed it to saggy pants, trying not to look down at Athena's beautifully sculpted legs, or any higher.

"Yo, bitch! You junk's hanging out!" He whispered. She slapped him and changed it to a regular skirt.

"Anyways, we gotta make sure you don't get lost in the woods! And, we gots to be sure that you and gonna have no baby mamas. Aight?"Athena asked, changing their clothing back to normal.

"May I say two things?" Percy asked them. Athena nodded, as if this amused her deeply.

"First, I didn't think you guys would actually do that. And second, that was horrible." Percy laughed.

"Yeah, and we totally heard what you said about her junk!" Nico laughed, clutching Scooby as he laughed. Thalia shot up, wide awake now. Nico filled her in quickly, getting kicked in the shin by Athena.

"So....translation?" Annabeth asked.

"We have to come along on your trip to make sure you don't....."Poseidon trailed off.

"Get lost?"

"Run out of food?"

"Die?"

"No, Perseus. I would love it if the first two happened to you, but my daughter would be their as well. No, we have to come along to make sure everyone stays the way they are." Athena rolled her hands in a 'you should understand by now.'

"I don't get it." Nico and Percy said. Athena sighed and wrote something down on the table with her finger. The letters appeared in gray and rolled over to the boys. They were reading it as Athena sighed again.

"We have to make sure you don't knock any one up." Then, all hell broke loose.


	12. NOTICE!

All right. I have been busy with school work this week, but I took a break and decided to reread the Last Olympian.I read it and started writing down the numbers. Nico was twelve, Thalia was eternally 15, Annabeth was 16, and Percy turned 16. Now, I know in my story, Percy is 22 but Nico is 15. I didn't know Nico's age until I reread the Last Olympian. I guess I read over it or something.....Anyways, this story is set 6 years after The Last Olympian....so....Nico is around 17. I apologize for me bad math. Which, was like...grade school math. But...I could take this time as a mid chapter summary.

Percy and Annabeth must complete a series of tasks to stay together, so, Aphrodite sent them to Miami for two weeks. They had to catch a plane with Hermes as a pilot, a high Thalia, and other funny scenarios. Then, once they arrive at the hotel, they have to immediately go to a party for Dionysus, where, it is discovered, Nico and Grover break dance. They go to the hotel and change into their pajamas and then meet in the hallway to say good night to everyone. Nico's pajamas are shaped like teddy bears, so Thalia jumps onto him and drags him back into the room. The next morning, they must go play around in the McWane Science Center in Birmingham, AL as a task. Afterwards, they go to an Applebee's, where Apollo shows up and makes the guys sing. They go to the hotel again after a long day and fall asleep. They wake up the next morning and find that Ares wants them to go have a paintball war in a Walmart. They do so, and are told by Poseidon to just relax at the pool. Nico brings up some bad memories and Thalia is hurt deeply. After a talk with Aphrodite, Thalia admits that she loves Nico. So, they get together. Aphrodite orders them to double date with Annabeth and Percy at the beach, so they comply. But, Annabeth sneaked Thalia an extremely powerful yet short lasting aphrodisiac. Now, they are having a party at the hotel, and Nico has offered to bring back some dead people for one night. So, they brought back Ethan, Beckendorf, Castor, Silena, and Lee.

That's about it so far. Chapter 11 will be up soon.


	13. Chapter 12: Preparations

A few campers behind them started tossing fireworks around like javelins. Nico and Annabeth caught a bottle rocket and threw it away so it wouldn't hit Poseidon. Percy caught a M20 and threw it away from Athena. Percy, Annabeth, Nico and Thalia got silent for a moment as their mother, father, or uncle looked down at them. They all looked in different directions and blushed fiercely.

"So...On a lighter note...I think I brought presents..." Poseidon offered, taking some boxes from underneath the table. He tossed the first to Annabeth, covered in a gray wrapping paper. She opened it up and looked down at it, unsure of what it was. Then, she realized and her cheeks reddened even more.

"What did the idiot give you?" Athena asked, already suspecting the answer.

"A pack of pills, labeled with days of the week." Smack. Poseidon rubbed his head where Athena had hit him.

"No, they aren't those kind of pills. If you take one, you get excellent directions for an hour. But, if you take more than one a day, you get gravely ill. I thought you guys would need them if you got lost." Poseidon explained. He tossed the second gift to Thalia. She opened the yellow box and didn't blush or anything. She picked up the pill bottle and set it on the table.

"Your dad picked that one out. Special birth control." Poseidon mumbled nervously. Nico picked up the bottle and read the sound effects.

"May cause: Irritability, stomach cramps, and lightning may shoot out of vagina...." Nico's eyes got very wide. Poseidon tossed him a slightly smaller box. Nico opened it slowly, afraid of what it might be. He sighed in relief as he realized the purpose of the boxes contents.

"A squirtbottle and a collar. I know who these are for." Nico playfully squirted Thalia in the face and put the collar around her neck.

"Weird! It actually fits!" Thalia smiled. Poseidon passed a gift over to Percy as well. He opened it quickly, hoping it wouldn't be something like a magic Viagra bottle. He smiled as he saw a small sand dollar and a small foam surfboard key chain.

"Thanks, Dad." Percy thanked.

"If you dip the surfboard in the tub and leave it there for a few hours, it will double in size. But, if you dip it in the sea water at the beach, it will instantly grow into a real surfboard." Poseidon explained.

"And, what's the sand dollar for?" Percy asked, examining it.

"Well, the last sand dollar that I gave you helped out quite a bit. So, maybe you should start saving up your allowances." Poseidon laughed. Athena rolled her eyes and got out four gifts. She passed them out, the plain white wrapping paper and black ribbons creating a rather normal looking gift box. They all opened them in a hurry.

"A lightning rod." Thalia announced, holding it up. She ran her fingers across the top and poked Nico with it, sending a shock through him.

"Ah, a magnetic science kit." Nico took the rod and moved magnets up and down the sides. It flew towards the legs of the table and sat there before falling to the ground.

"A map of Greece!" Annabeth proudly held up her gift.

"Um..Lady Athena, are you sure this is right? Maybe not your gift to Apollo for his birthday or something?" Percy asked, not daring to tell what was in the box.

"No, it is correct." Athena said, her eyes twinkling with mischief.

"So....what is it?" Thalia asked.

"A..." Percy's voiced rumbled off into the music, unable to be heard.

"What?" Nico asked.

"Yeah, Seaweed Brain, what?" Annabeth grabbed the box, looked inside, and quickly closed it again, followed by a 'MOTHER!!'.

"Well! I'd rather the boy spill his seed in the sock with a Playboy than in my daughter." Athena moved around in her seat, as if something was hurting her.

"You all right?" Percy asked.

"Yes, but there's something poking me in the ba--APOLLO!" Athena spun around, meeting Apollo's little friend.

"I should be running now. SOLDIER AT ATTENTION!" The God of Light laughed, running away.

"Why doesn't that god wear pants?" Nico asked, shaking his head.

"Or, at least underwear." Thalia added. They sat there for a moment in an awkward silence. Finally, Nico decided to break it by singing along with the song playing.

"Oh, looking like another Bob Marley day. Hitting from the bong like a deisel train. And now, we're hanging out this afternoon." Nico sang to _This Afternoon _by Nickelback.

"We got weeds in the backyard, four feet tall! Cheech and Chong probably woulda smoked it all. So, I'm on the couch this afternoon." Percy smiled. The only person who knew about the karoake night outside of their traveling friends was Apollo.

"Beer bottles laying on the kitchen floor. If we take 'em all out we can buy some more. So I doubt we're going out this afternoon, Oh!" Thalia sang.

"Yeah you better hang on if you're going along. Cause we be doing this till six in the morning! Nothing wrong with going all night long. Time to put the brakes on doesn't matter when you gotta get up, get out, me and all my friends! Drink up, fall down, we'll do it all again!" They sang together, lifting their cups in the air as if it was a toast to the band.

"Just sitting around. And hanging out this afternoon." Annabeth sang, smiling like an idiot. Soon, everyone was out on the floor dancing. They kept getting thirsty and repeatedly hit the punch bowl. Athena and Poseidon sat at their table playing chess and watching their children dance.

"I think that, if our children can overcome their differences, and our grudges, maybe we can too." Poseidon said, moving his knight. Athena looked up at him, her grey eyes looking sincere. She spoke, a single statement that filled the air with joy.

"Checkmate." She blinked, the look in her eyes disappearing instantly. She left the Lord of the Sea and the chess set behind as she walked onto the dance floor. Annabeth and Thalia walked behind her trying to be quiet, but failing worse than the Stoll brothers.

"What are you doing?" Athena turned around on her daughter and Percy.

"Following you." Thalia answered stupidly. She turned towards Athena and gave her a huge hug. Annabeth joined, then Nico, Percy, and Grover. Soon, the entire dance floor had split up into different circles and group hugged different gods. Poseidon sat under the table, trying hard not to laugh so he wouldn't be hugged. He looked around and spied Dionysus sitting a little too smugly a little too close to the punch bowl. Well, now it was a wine bowl.

"Dionysus." Poseidon called, motioning the god and his two sons towards him. They hid under the table quickly.

"I suppose you know by now." Dionysus yawned.

"Yes. And, I will get you back. But, not now. This is too funny. Go get me a balloon, Castor." Poseidon asked, sending the boy off. He returned a moment later with a bright red balloon. Poseidon took it and took the edge of his trident and jumped out from under the table.

"GET DOWN! HE'S GOT A BOMB!" He yelled, recieving scared screams in reply. He popped the balloon on his trident and quickly slid back under the table. Dionysus held something in his hands that looked suspiciously like....

" I've got bottle rockets, M20s, Roman candles, sparklers, cherry bombs, all kinds of fireworks. If you really want to scare some drunk kids, this will do." Dionysus handed the box over to the other god.

"I think I'll save these for us to play with on the camping trip. Got any of those packs?" Poseidon asked, setting the box aside. Percy stepped under the table a moment later.

"Hey, it's the wine dude. OOOH! Fireworks!" Percy snatched at them, only to fall over backwards onto the floor. He breathed deeply and then released it all in one great sigh.

"I do. I have the All American, Arsenal, oh, and the Delirium 500G Fountain." Castor answered for his father, producing the boxes. He gave them to Poseidon and looked over at Percy. Dionysus snapped his fingers and Percy shot up suddenly, no red cheeks, no glazed over look, and perfect balance.

"Well....that was weird....I'm not drunk anymore..." Percy nodded to Mr. D.

"Neither are your friends. Now, I suggest you hit the road if you want to make it to Alabama. It's quite a drive from Miami and, it's getting late. I suggest shadow travel." Mr. D pushed him out from under the table, where he met his friends. He explained what happened and told them to get their clothes. They did and met outside ten minutes later. Poseidon walked out of the hotel, his arms laden with fireworks.

"Okay, everyone gets a variety pack and some M20s. The Delirium is for me. Anything else is free game." Poseidon passed out the fireworks and a book of matches for everyone. Athena walked up beside him. She had changed into a skirt, showing her beautiful legs off.

"Poseidon, it is not a good idea to give them fireworks." Athena crossed her arms coldly.

"I got you Formula racers, TNT blasts, Mr. Turtle, and Lightning blasts." He turned the packages over to her.

"Good. But, it's still not a good idea." Athena took the gift and clapped her hands. A large grey minivan appeared out of nowhere and landed in front of them.

"A minivan?" Annabeth whined.

"What?" Athena asked, clearly not seeing a problem.

"Well, it's just that it's so....mini van-ish."

"It provides good mileage, has lots of space, and snacks. Plus, autodrive." Athena answered back.

"Is that like cruise control?" Percy asked, eyeing the tires.

"The tires are filled up with enough air, thank you. I've been driving since the automobile was invented. And, no. That is when the speed is set. With this, I could be asleep in the back of the van, with no body driving, and we would still arrive at our destination." Athena opened the door and motioned for everyone to pile in. Poseidon hopped in first, heading to the shotgun. Athena threw him a cold glance then shook her head sadly. Tyson jumped in the back, laying down across the floor and falling asleep. Grover, Juniper, and her bush piled in after him. Nico and Percy turned the seats around so they could face their girlfriends. (A/N: You know, like on those commercials....) Athena made everyone put on seatbelts and then began the long drive to Alabama. In a minivan. At 10:14 PM. Around 11: 15, Athena, Annabeth, Thalia, and Juniper got bored and started to play the Alphabet game. They topic was that they would be a S.W.A.T. team trying to defuse a bomb. They would start at I.

"I don't know what to do!" Juniper laughed.

"Just pull the red wire to defuse it." Thalia ordered.

"Kill us, that's what'll happen if she pulls it." Athena shook her finger at Thalia.

"Let's just throw it out of a helicopter a mile above the town!" Annabeth suggested.

"Maybe we could have done that an hour ago!" Juniper turned to Thalia.

"Nobody move. I think I see the bombers...."

"Oh, no, that's just my cat, Teddy." Athena laughed.

"Please, S.W.A.T. teams don't have cats, we have TIGERS!"

"Quit licking me, Teddy!"

This continued till 11:30, when Percy and Nico suddenly yelled out.

"Stop the van!"


	14. Chapter 13: Car Ride of Boredom

((Okay....last chapter was a little weird...but...here we are already at chapter....13, not counting the NOTICE...Oh, the fireworks do play a part in the story by the way. The joke Nico and Thalia will now make are from That's 70's Show. Don't know what that is? It's a show on Fox. Don't watch Fox? Then, you're missing a lot of Family Guy, my friend. I don't own Percy Jackson & The Olympians.))

"What is it?" Poseidon asked as he sat up. He had a look of alarm on his face as he looked out the window.

"I hate to be the bearer of bad news." Nico said, stalling for time.

"Yes?" Thalia raised an eyebrow.

"I'm not wearing my underwear. And, my pants never came off during our short little drunken state." Nico replied, cowering in a corner behind Poseidon.

"You're not going to believe this. I think I'm wearing them." Thalia shrugged. Athena rolled her eyes and pushed down on the gas. A thought occured to Percy just then.

"Hey, Pallus?" Percy asked from his seat as he reached for a juice box. Apparently, a cooler was installed into the floor. It was pretty convenient and cool.

"I don't remember being on a first name basis, Jackson. But, what?" Athena asked, taking her eyes off of the road to look at him in the mirror.

"Why are you driving us there? We could just as easily shadow travel or you guys could have done that whole flash of light air travel thing." Percy opened the juice box carefully, not spilling a drop of the apple juice inside. If he got any stains in here, Athena would kill him. Literally.

"I wanted to see how you guys would react on a trip like this. Apparently, the monsters get tired and fall asleep." Athena glanced up, noticing that Tyson, Grover, and Juniper were all asleep in the back seat.

"True." Percy nodded. He leaned over to Annabeth and whispered.

"Right now it feels like we're a big family."

"You're right. But, that's because we are." Annabeth's eyes flipped in her eyelids, the simple eye roll looked very hard to counter.

"Yeah well...Yo mama--" Percy started, then realizing who her mother was.

"Continue." Athena dared.

"Yo mama is a stunningly beautiful and wise woman." Percy recovered.

"Nice save, Seaweed Brain." Annabeth laughed.

"That's better than what I did to Hera..." Thalia sighed.

"What?" Nico looked down at his handful of fireworks in appreciation. He took out the poppers and threw them at the walls of the car.

"Go ahead, it's a magic mini van. No one will have to clean it." Athena grumbled.

"I asked Hera. 'So, you're my aunt AND my stepmom? Wow...birthdays and Christmas must be hard.'" Thalia laughed. Nico looked over at her and laughed as well.

"What?" Percy asked.

"She's still wearing Scooby's collar. I read the instruction in the box. It's a shock collar. And, I have the sensor in my pocket!" Nico whispered over to him. Athena seemed to know and tried to hold in her laughter.

"Nico, don't." She urged, knowing what Thalia would do. "Just give me the sensor."

"Okay." Nico threw it to her, only to have it pass right by Thalia's neck. The collar shocked her, giving her a small headache. And, really frizzy hair.

"And in other news....Wait...what?" Thalia cocked her head to the side.

"Let's talk about theme songs!" Poseidon suggested.

"What?" Annabeth asked.

"Well, we all choose a part of our lives and then a song we know that perfectly describes it." Percy explained for his dad. "Like, that time I went missing for two weeks, would be... _Halfway Gone _by Lifehouse."

"I think Luke's would be 123 by Britney Spears." Annabeth said to herself. Percy turned towards her and then looked away, a fierce look on his face. Athena got up and set the vehicle on auto. She sat down on the floor in the middle of the young adults.

"Under the Sea." Poseidon yawned, recieving a few strange looks.

"Peanut Butter Jelly Time." Tyson mumbled in his sleep. Juniper and Grover picked up the rest of the song as they snored.

"Weird...I think... Hero by Nickelback is a definite for when I got turned into a tree." Thalia explained.

"Probably...The Traveling Song by Will.I. Am, when I was trying to get through the Labyrinth." Nico took the collar off of Thalia and tossed it aside, vowing to get it on Percy later just out of boredom.

"Maybe....The Anthem by Good Charlotte when I first met Seaweed Brain." Annabeth blushed as she leaned over and kissed him in front of her mother.

"This is a christian hymn, but Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise." Athena answered. The kept talking for a few minutes, until Tyson shot up in his sleep.

"No! Fish Ponies! That's my peanut butter!" He laid back down and fell asleep again.

"That was random." Athena commented, shaking her head. Nico's eyes twinkled with mischief for a moment, then the spark was masked with a bored expression.

"Are we there yet?" Nico asked plaintively.

"No, not yet. We still have about...9 hours and 4 minutes." Athena sighed.

"Well, what are we supposed to do for that time?" Percy yawned, causing everyone else to yawn.

"Sleep." Annabeth answered. Athena snapped her fingers and each seat became a recliner. She snapped her fingers again and everyone was in pajamas, unfortunately for Nico. Thalia looked over and uttered a single word, in a sugar crazed five year old voice.

"Teddy." Nico paled immediately, jumping into the back and hiding behind Poseidon.

"Help!" He pleaded. The Sea God tried not to laugh, but failed horribly. He started laughing so hard he started to roll around on his side, giving Thalia ample time to tackle Nico and start to rapidly peck him on the cheeks and lips. After a moment, Nico looked back at Athena.

"Are we there yet?" He asked again, apparently wanting to get out of the girl's grasp.

"No, and let him go, Thalia." Percy answered for her.

"Quite, Kelp head." Thalia shot back, her eyes a dangerous blue.

"Is that the best you have, Pinecone face?"

"Oh, like you have any better!"

"Christmas Tree!"

"Free Willy!"

"Streaky the wonder cat!"

"Aqua lad!"

"Sparky!"

"Wet Wipe!"

"Wow...they are really bad at this..." Athena thought out loud. Nico and Annabeth nodded, still watching the arguement.

"Forget this. I'm going to bed." Percy threw his hands in the air and sat down in a recliner. He pulled a blanket out of nowhere and curled up under it, looking strangely peaceful.

"Where did he get the blanket?" Athena asked plaintively.

"That's what years of magician training will do to you if you're a dyslexic, ADHD, over energetic and about five years old." Percy opened an eye and looked at the goddess.

"I still can't believe you did that thing with the rabbit. Do you still have the bite mark?" Poseidon asked.

"First, WHAT THE HADES!!! Why would you ask that in front of my friends and my girlfriend! Second, you were watching me back then?" Percy cocked his head to the left.

"That's a yes." Athena and Poseidon said at once.

"Aw, did a wittle wabbit try to bite your weeeetle carrot stick?" Thalia teased.

"It did, yes. But, it though it was a huge celery stick. Unlike you and the dogs. They thought those were tennis balls." Percy smirked.

"Annabeth! You told him about the dog incident!" Thalia yelled.

"No! I don't know how he knows!" Annabeth replied, sitting down in the recliner nearest Percy.

"Even Zeus keeps an eye on his only child. And, a scrapbook of embarrasing photos." Poseidon replied, composing himself.

"Those dogs thought they were bowling balls!" Thalia defended her.....balloons.

"Don't kid yourself!" A second after that, they were both screaming back and forth at each other. This continued for a half hour, then both gods snapped their fingers and put one child to sleep.

"Night, children." Athena told everyone.

"Night, children. Night, Athena." Poseidon said politely.

"Quiet." Athena's foot collided with his ear. He smiled softly and fell asleep. Nico and Annabeth's heads popped out of their blankets and turned towards the other.

"I didn't know gods slept!" Annabeth shrugged. Nico nodded in agreement and they both fell asleep. They awoke eight hours later, everyone with bed head. They ate pancakes or cereal (Man...Demeter would go insane if she read that..) and talked for a while, until Percy decided to Iris message his mom. He took a prism out of his bag and projected the rainbow, throwing in the coin and contacting his mom.

"Hey, Mom. Hey, Paul" Percy waved. Tyson sat and up and held a sign that read 'Hi brother's mom!'. Everyone else simply waved at Sally and Paul as they sat on an uknown couch in an unfamiliar room.

"Hello everyone!" Paul greeted sheepishly. He sighed and shook his head sadly.

"What's wrong?" Percy asked, his eyebrows journeying downwards.

"Well, we kinda forgot to tell you..We decided to take a vacation for 2 weeks." Sally responded.

"Oh, cool! Just like a family." Percy said excitedly.

"No, she means, you're mother and I think you are responsible enough to stay home alone for 2 weeks. Unfortunately, we didn't hear you quite well in your message and left the house with all the keys, thinking that you would be gone for 2 weeks, not one." Paul answered, rubbing his neck.

"So...." Percy rolled his hands. Athena and Poseidon sighed loudly. Everyone else turned towards them expectantly.

"We'll explain it, Sally. You and Paul have a nice vacation. Where are you anyways?" Poseidon asked.

"Well, right now we're on the ship. It may take a few days to reach our destination." Paul answered after a moment.

"Where are you going?" Athena asked, looking at Sally through the message.

"Oh, you know...China." She said, trying to play it off in a cheery voice. A speaker pounded through their room as a man spoke.

"Limbo on the main deck in three minutes!" The speaker cut off after a moment.

"Well, that's us!" Paul stood up quickly.

"Bye guys! Love you Percy!" Sally slashed her hand through the Iris message. The group just stood there in amazement for a moment, until the van spoke in a pleasant British accent.

"You have reached your destination." There was a flash of light as the van unfolded itself, becoming five tents and a camp fire.

"Wow. We're there now, Nico." Was all Percy could say before he fell backwards, unconscious.


	15. Chapter 14: Playing with Fire

((Last chapter was indeed a shocker. I will continue this until chapter 15...Then, I will make a sequel that continues this. I don't know why, but I just start to feel that it gets too long after 15 chapters. It's like, I'm writing a fan fiction story, not a new novel off of that book, show, game, whatever. Oh well. I'll tell you guys the title on the next update... I don't own Percy Jackson & The Olympians, or any fireworks companies. sadly...))

"Percy. Percy!" Cool water splashed onto his face and he woke up instantly, finding Athena over him with a bucket and everyone crowded around him.

"What happened?" Percy asked, rubbing his head.

"Your mom and stepfather decided to get on a cruise to China and then told you, and you passed out." Annabeth reminded him.

"Great...so..where do I stay?" He asked plainly.

"We'll figure something out, Percy." Poseidon reassured him.

"No, I mean, which tent is for who?" He sat up slowly and looked around. The sun beat down over head, yet it seemed cooler outside than it did when they were in Miami.

"Oh, right. The first two tents are for Poseidon and Athena. The third tent is for boys and the fourth is for girls." Grover explained as he looked over Percy.

"What about the last one?" Percy pointed. Juniper popped into his view as well.

"That is the infirmary tent." She explained. The lack of a squeaky wagon made him look around for a moment. Juniper's bush was planted ten feet away, on the edge of the woods but safe from the fire and people if they were rushing from tent to tent in a hurry. He stood up, dusting himself off. He staggered for a moment, causing everyone to gasp, except Athena who's eyes just got larger with anticipation. Percy caught himself and calmly walked around for a moment, before Annabeth, Nico, and Thalia decided to head off into the woods for a walk. He joined them and they started to walk, only to hear a deep growling sound behind them. Thalia took out her pepper spray and was ready to spray it, while Nico called his sword, Annabeth grabbed her knife, and Percy grabbed Riptide out of his pocket. They all turned around and lunged.

"Arf!" They all fell over in a heap, meeting the shape of a hell pup.

"Scooby! What the Hades!" Nico scolded, sitting on top of Percy.

"Nico. Dismount me." Percy ordered.

"That's what she said." Thalia giggled. They all stepped up and leered down at the puppy.

"So...what do we do with him?" Percy asked once they had all straightened out their clothes and gotten the leaves out of their hair.

"I'm kinda hungry." Annabeth added, hearing her stomach growl. Scooby walked over to her and jumped, placing one ear on her stomach. He growled, fell and stopped growling. He jumped again, listened to Annabeth's stomach, growled, fell, and stopped growling. He continued this cycle for a few minutes while everyone stood there and watched.

"Okay....that is weird. So....again...what now?" Annabeth asked, picking up the puppy and putting him in Nico's arms.

"Let's just walk for a while, maybe try and see if we can find a bear to poke or something." Nico replied.

"Well...I do have a bumper sticker that says 'I poke badgers with spoons.' I guess a bear and a sword wouldn't be too different." Percy laughed.

"You guys seriously want to?" Thalia pointed to a small cavern about thirty feet away.

"How did we not notice that before?" Percy asked, uncapping Riptide. He walked swiftly into the cave and a moment later, there was a loud growl.

"Oh My Gods, run! He's got the sword. Don't ask me how guys, but he has the freaking celestial bronze sword!" He yelled as he ran out. Scooby wiggled out of Nico's arms and ran towards camp. The group took off a moment later, leaving a swirl of leaves, an angry bear, and a magic sword long behind them. They arrived at camp in a short matter of time, considering they were running for their lives. They fell near the camp fire, face down in the dirt. Athena and Poseidon walked over to them and stood above them.

"Decide to poke a bear?" Poseidon asked. Nico grunted a short 'uh-huh.'

"Perseus do it?" Athena inquired, recieving a 'yup' from Thalia.

"Use Riptide?" Poseidon asked, recieving a thumbs up from Annabeth.

"The bear got your sword didn't it?" Athena tapped the ground in front of Percy's head. He raised himself up, spit out some grass and replied calmly.

"Yep. Still has it." A large growl resounded through the hills and all the birds flew away. 'And, apparently, it knows where we live."

"Oh man! It's gonna stalk us now! It'll find us when we're getting fire wood! It'll find us when we're cooking! It'll find us when we're at the McDonalds! It'll be hiding in the bushes! Going 'I got you...I got you...'" Nico freaked out. Percy walked over to him calmly and slapped him.

"Get it together man! We will live!" He shook the teen. Nico fell out of his grasp and pantsed him.

"Okay, I'm good." Nico replied ignorantly.

"Oh, dude! Even in the fore--" Percy didn't get to finish as the bear appeared out of the woods, a sword in it's mouth and growling fiercely. Poseidon turned and snapped his fingers, making the bear explode.

"Was the explosion necessary?" Athena asked, putting her hands on her hips.

"Is that stance really necessary? Mommy?" Poseidon teased. Slap.

"That was fun." Percy laughed nervously.

"Hard to believe your little adventure took an hour, huh?" Grover appeared out of the bushes, holding Juniper's hand. Juniper had a basket of berries and other fruits.

"Whoa! Where'd you find that?" Thalia ran up to them and surveyed the assortment.

"Bananas, apples, oranges, kiwis, melons, watermelons, grapes, blueberries, strawberries, everything!" Nico marveled.

"Yep. I save the scraps from each of these fruits, planted them, and then played a little tune. They popped right up. They're still there actually, but let's just let them grow." Grover shrugged.

"The mortals will wonder how these fruits from different enviroments grew together." Athena grabbed an apple and bit into it quietly. Where as Poseidon took a watermelon and began to slice it with his trident. Nearly taking half of Percy's head off with half of the large fruit.

"Careful, Dad! I don't want a half brother!" Tyson emerged from the boys tent, dressed in his pajamas and a scared expression on his face.

"Don't worry, son. I won't do that again." Poseidon told them both. They nodded and stood aside, careful to avoid the trident as it came down a second time. Eight pieces of water melon fell, one in front of each half-blood, god, or monster. They ate in a comfortable silence, until Tyson started to throw a box of poppers at people, saying 'I'ma neenja!' After a while, everyone was throwing poppers at each other, a slight pinching sensation as it exploded against their skin. Athena and Annabeth were hiding behind the fire, with every projectile crossing through the fire and immediately igniting. Percy and Poseidon were walking around the woods around the camp site, trying to find a weak spot of the opposing teams. Grover and Juniper were throwing them straight into the air, allowing them to gain momentum and land harder with a more forceful pop. Tyson and Scooby were throwing everything they could at odd angles, making them rebound and hit someone in the head. Nico and Thalia were sitting behind a tent, hoping they wouldn't get hit as they popped out and threw poppers. Percy poked Poseidon in the ribs and pointed to Athena and Annabeth. They were scrambling for more poppers, but couldn't find any. Athena smiled wickedly and took out a Mr. Turtle. Percy took a step forward, but was stopped by Poseidon.

"All those things do is walk forward, and then spin around a bit. If they throw them, the fuse will be blown out." Poseidon whispered. Athena placed it in the fire and ran away with Annabeth. Percy ran out of the woods just as Mr. Turtle exploded, throwing all of his poppers like shurikens at Athena and Annabeth. Most hit Athena, harmlessly exploding. Annabeth managed to catch a few and unraveled them, putting all of the powder in one. Percy stood there as it flew towards his head, made contact, and exploded. Once he opened his eyes again, he noticed that everyone was on the ground laughing. Apparently, during that moment, the sparks from the Mr. Turtle had gotten on him and caught his pants on fire. He stood there for a moment, not feeling the pain. Then, a thought occured to him that made him laugh.

"You guys won't be laughing when these things burn off my underwear." Cool water was thrown at him immediately, putting out the fire yet not getting him even the slighest bit wet.

"Okay, since we've already started, let's have a fireworks fight." Nico offered.

"What do you mean?" Tyson asked, smiling devilishy and holding up a few hunting slingshots. He passed them out and looked over at Nico.

"The rules are simple. Shoot at the other team with a lit firework. Who ever comes out cleanest wins. Who ever runs out of ammo first loses. You can't shoot fireworks that can shoot outwards, like bottle rockets. Gods must be judges, but we need a third." Nico looked over at Tyson, who nodded.

"I will. Now, everyone...GO BE NEENJAS!" With that, he spread his arms out and clapped loudly. The group dispersed, getting into teams of and the gods sat down in chairs around the fire, waiting for them to return. Percy and Annabeth ventured deep into the woods, hiding in the cave where they had found the bear. Nico and Thalia climbed up a tree, sitting on branches on opposite branches and looking down. Grover and Juniper hid behind a wall of bamboo that they had constructed. Percy made the first move, taking out a M20 and lighting it with a match. He looked at the tree and threw it at an angle so it looked like Team Panda had thrown it. Then, he returned with Annabeth into the hide out of Team S.E.A.L.S. They had decided on names as they ran through the forest. Nico looked down from Team Big & Rich's perch, just in time to see the M20 come from, what he thought to be, Team Panda's wall of bamboo. He reached out and grabbed it, licking his fingers and putting out the fuse. He stuffed it into his pocket and took out a bottle rocket.

"Wow. Didn't know you they would do like that." Thalia commented, having seen what happened. Nico nodded and lit the bottle rocket and gave it a toss. It fell halfway down the tree, then shot forward in a trail of sparks, before exploding just above the bamboo wall. Grover screamed and threw a Roman Candle into the air. Thalia caught it as it came through the air, and then gently tossed it sideways towards the cave. She lit a TNT Bomb airplane and let it fly away in a blast of sparks, spinning in circles until falling on the bamboo wall. Percy and Annabeth appeared out of the cave, lit Roman Candles in tow. They shot them up one at a time at different angles. They all went off at once, a thunderous boom filling the woods. Nico and Thalia jumped out their tree, throwing down TNT Blast grenades as they went down. Team Bamboo appeared out of nowhere at the base of the tree with every firework they had lit. Then, just as quickly as they arrived, they disappeared. Percy ran right into the bundle, throwing it all over the other side of the bamboo wall. It all exploded at once, sending Grover and Juniper into a spiral as they jumped dramatically from their base.

"Out." Grover announced as he and Juniper walked back to camp. Nico and Percy nodded and looked at each other. Annabeth put a lit M20 in one of Percy's hands and in the other, a couple of bottle rockets tied together. Percy threw the bottle rockets in the air, distracting Nico. He threw the M20 onto the ground in front of himself and smiled. He kicked some dirt over it and it exploded, sending sand and dirt into the air as a cover. The dust cleared and Percy and Annabeth were gone. Their voices called out to Team Big & Rich, taunting them lightly.

"Come find us." Annabeth whispered, her voice sounding like it was coming from everywhere. Thalia and Nico circled around each other subconciously. They bumped into each other once and threw almost all their fireworks down, lit matches, and ran like hell was on Earth. Then, after the bang, they realized what they had done. All they had left were some sparklers, two M20s, and one bottle rocket. Thalia tied them all together with some grass and they sat down, ready for the other team. Percy appeared out of nowhere, throwing down fireworks as he went. They all exploded fiercely, making dust spew everywhere. Nico lit their little bomb and threw it up high, ducking for cover. A moment later, there was a crack, a shudder, a big boom, and a massive amount of light! Percy and Annabeth fell down dazed.

"We threw up ours at the same time. But, we had everything." Percy yelled over the noise, which was exceedingly hard to do.

"Oh! So it's a tie?" Nico asked. Percy nodded and they went to the camp site, watching as everyone taped themselves up and put on burn cream.

"Okay, we're going home." Poseidon told Athena.

"Oh, definetly. Come on, everyone in the van." She ordered, changing the camp back into a mini van. And so, they spent the rest of the day pouting in a car with second degree burns and lectures on what a stupid idea that was.

"Ah, family." Percy commented, receiving a thump on the head from Athena.


	16. Chapter 15: The Finale

((Okay. I think I have a title. I need a vote on this though. ''So, What Now?'. Because of what will happen in this chapter. If you guys want to give me a title, PM me, i'll tell you the general theme, and you can take a crack at it! But, I've been caught in up school lately with this Renaissance Romeo & Juliet project we were doing and we're having a party about it this coming Friday and I may not be on much till then.))

"Are we there yet?" Nico asked the van. About an hour ago, in Panama City, they had learned that they could ask the van's navigational system about their trip.

"Not yet, sir." A male voice replied.

"How about now?" Percy asked out of boredom. They had been doing this for about 10 minutes now, trying to see if they could cause the computer to have a mental breakdown. Well, an artifical mental breakdown. The computer simply gave the same prerecorded response as before.

"Not yet, sir."

"Now?" Tyson asked, shooting a hornet at the steering wheel. Scooby was asleep in the driver's seat, so that, if they were pulled over, the police man or police woman would be confused. Unfortunately, the hornet was shot with so much force that activated the air bag, which hit Scooby, who jumped up, snarled, and lashed out against the oversized balloon. It popped with a loud noise, waking Grover and Juniper. They shot up quickly, knocking over Poseidon. Who, accidentally, landed with his hands on Athena's....

"Poseidon. I'm going to give you till the count of 1 and an eighth to get your hands off of my chest." Athena said, oddly calm. Poseidon's hands were behind his back before before she said 'off'. Yet, as if just for good measure, she slapped him on the back. She turned towards the teens and jerked a thumb to his back. They all turned and read it, each with a normal reaction. Grover, Percy, and Nico were trying hard not to laugh as they read the note. Thalia was on the floor, covering her mouth as she giggled. Juniper was hiding in her wagon with her bush, stuffing her face into the branchs and giggling. Annabeth and Athena sat there quietly for a moment, then both tossed three drachma onto the floor, as if they were taking bets on what would happen next.

"Daddy?" Tyson asked Poseidon.

"Hmm?" Poseidon turned towards Tyson.

"What does that mean?" Tyson asked, pointing to his back. Poseidon grabbed the note off of his back and read it. It was a picture of him in bed with his wife, while the thought bubble above her read 'Dang. I don't get why they call him Earth Shaker. He couldn't even shake the pillows, let alone the world.' Poseidon crumpled it up and turned towards Athena, a mischevious glimmer in his eyes.

"Now, Athena, I've told you before, stop hiding in my closet, it's over." He smiled, wiggling his eyebrows. Annabeth reached over and grabbed the drachmas, right before everyone burst out with laughter and Athena practically tackled Poseidon. They were rolling around on the floor now, trying to pin each other. Nico looked at them and then raised up a video camera. He had found it under the driver's seat, labeled for 'emergency documentation of scientific discoveries', but he thought that two gods fighting over two little jokes was pretty scientific. They continued fighting for about ten minutes, while Tyson and Percy asked the computer if they were at the hotel yet.

"Not yet sir. Not yet, sir. Not ye--yet, s-i-si-sir." The voice droned downwards and then a small spark lit up the van.

"Wow, Tyson! We did it! We drove the computer insane!" Percy high fived the Cyclops.

"Boom!" Tyson agreed happily. Then his smile faded and his one eye filled with tears.

"Tyson! What's wrong?" Annabeth asked, crawling towards them and taking a break from the action.

"After this trip, I have to go to forges again. No more booms for long time!" He cried, using his shirt as a tissue.

"Is that all?" Percy asked, smiling encouragingly.

"Yeah, we could get you some time off!" Poseidon offered, trying to dodge Athena's punch as he rolled around with her.

"I can make things go boom still?" Tyson asked, his crying stopping for a moment.

"Sure!" Percy agreed. Then, Tyson started crying again.

"What is it now?" Annabeth asked, sitting close to Percy and wrapping an arm around his.

"Big brother has no place to live!" He sniffled, snot coming out of his nose and rolling down onto his upper lip.

"True, but I think I have a solution. Plus, this trip still has six quests, questions, or riddles left!" Annabeth encouraged.

"Actually, this camping trip was also a quest for Artemis. So, we have...Poseidon, Aphrodite, Apollo, Artemis, Hephasteaus, Hades, Hermes and Dionysus down. That leaves Hera, Hestia, Athena, and Zeus." Percy counted off on his fingers. He was pretty sure Hestia would do something simple, like a question or a riddle. Hera, a very difficult quest, Zeus...not good. Athena...worse.

"When did we do Hermes?" Annabeth asked him.

"Well, we let him fly us to Miami. Scary as hell too. Thalia was completely high on pain pills." Nico shivered, answering for Percy.

"Yeah." Tyson said, wiping his tears.

"Why don't you take a nap until we get there?" Athena threw out, jumping away from the fight. Nico had gotten twelve minutes of a miniature god war.

"Okay." Tyson slumped over and fell asleep immediately.

"So, what's this idea you have for my son's arrangements?" Poseidon asked, coming up to them with a black eye. He waved his hand over it and it disappeared.

"Well, I have an extra room at my place and-" Annabeth began, only to have Athena hold up her hand.

"Let me stop you there. I don't like the idea of the Sea Monkey living with you." Athena explained.

"Oh, sure, you have names. Hey, could you teach Thalia to do that?" Percy asked Athena. She motioned for him to come closer and then whispered in his ear.

"If you touch my daughter, I'll turn you into a mouse and eat you in owl form." She smiled sweetly, pulling away. Percy gulped and moved back towards Annabeth, resulting in an eyebrow raising.

"But, he doesn't have anywhere else to go! Think about it, Zeus is his uncle and does like him, but Hera hates both of our guts! Hades is okay with him, but all those monsters we've killed and enemy half-bloods in the underworld aren't too grateful. So, it's either let him live underwater, in a barely structurally sound palace or my idea." Annabeth pointed out. Poseidon shot her a quizzical look and then sighed.

"It is true that my palace is still slightly unstable, even six years after the war. And, the game room is still being worked on. This may be the only option." Poseidon turned to Athena, waiting for an answer.

"Very well. But, I expect weekly virginity test results. And, a pregnancy test, both a doctors and the stick." She replied, turning away.

"Wait. Two things, first, they have virginity tests? Hey, Nico! They have a test you can pass now!" Percy laughed, causing Nico to blush. Thalia looked over at him seductively and he gulped and then shot back at Percy.

"Hey, if all your tests were like that, you'd make straight A's." Nico laughed lightly.

"Actually, I hope you would all pass those tests. Well, with the exception of Juniper and Grover. They aren't even part human, so they would fail for not even having the right DNA." Poseidon guessed. He got into the driver's seat and pushed the air bag out of the way.

"My thoughts as well." Athena agreed, her eyes piercing everyone's as she turned in a circle.

"Results, Dr. Pallus?" Poseidon called. He was dressed up in a nurse's outfit, the dress hugging him in all the wrong places for a guy.

"Yes, all passed." Athena snapped her fingers, changing into a doctor's costume, with a stethoscope tied around her neck, with a small owl imprinted on the front.

"This idea would be...?" Percy asked. Lightning struck the vehicle, leaving behind nothing but a piece of paper. There were four riddles and questions on it, each with either a yes or no, or a blank space.

"This must be a form for their questions or riddles." Annabeth guessed, reading over it.

"Yep. What's the first?" Percy asked her.

"What's the one thing in the world everyone may see, hear, and feel, yet never touch?" She asked Percy.

"Lightning. If you're close enough, you can feel it vibrate the ground as it strikes." He guessed, watching her write it down.

"Okay, question two: Finish the following line...Oh, this must be from Hestia, it's pretty easy, which is a sign that they are on our side." Annabeth explained.

"What's the line?" Percy asked, eager to get this all over with.

"I'll put a blank blank blank blank, it's the blank way. Hey Uncle Blank..." Annabeth read off.

"I'll put a boot up your ass, it's the American way! Hey Uncle Sam!" Percy and Nico began singing the song, leading everyone through it. They was a clap of thunder, followed by a red glow in the clouds.

"Yikes. This one is Literature." Annabeth sighed.

"Go." Percy said after a moment.

"What was the setting of Romeo & Juliet?" Annabeth asked, looking into his eyes. His beautiful, lush, sea green eyes. She got lost in them for a moment, until he answered the question.

"Verona, Italy. The late 1300's." He replied confidently.

"Wow." Poseidon said from the driver's seat.

"That's right." Athena confirmed, her jaw dropped.

"We were actually there that day, having a family outing. Didn't go to well, as you can see. Hades gave someone the plague, I accidentally flooded a river, and Athena here--" Poseidon was interrupted quickly.

"And I sat on the Royal Cakes. I got all the syrup on my butt and my dress. Not gonna give you all the pleasure, Poseidon. Need I remind you what happened during Abraham Lincoln's term?" Athena asked. Annabeth and Percy nodded ferverently.

"I'll tell you. We were there the night that he was assassinated. We, being Hades, Zeus, and I were in the box across from President Lincoln. That idiot Boothes walked into our box and jumped. I almost got arrested." Poseidon smiled at them.

"Wow. What did you do then?" Percy asked.

"He wet himself and ran like hell was unleashed on Earth." Athena replied, nonchalanlty flipping a drachma around in her hand.

"All right, back to the test!" Poseidon flicked his hands, sending small water droplets towards the teens.

"Actually, we only need one more. Mom?" Annabeth turned towards her mother and she motioned for Percy to stand by her.

"Very well. Come here, Perseus." Athena took him by the hand and led him away, then whispered in his ear. His eyes grew wide and he froze. The world around him froze, until it was just him and Athena inside a dark circle.

"I will." He answered after a second, oddly calm now.

"Good. Now, Annabeth, you talk to him about it." She turned towards her daughter, who nodded.

"Percy Jackson, would you like to live with me for a while?" Annabeth asked, her grey eyes twinkling in the sunlight as it poured through the window. Percy looked into her eyes and answered, his voice full of seriousness, joy, and a tinge of nervousness.

"Is your mom gonna blow me up?" He asked Annabeth, recieving a giggle out of her.

"Probably, some day. So, I take that as a yes?" She asked. Percy crawled over to her and kissed her, long, passionate, and full of love. Athena looked around as Nico and Thalia started to kiss, followed by Grover and Juniper, and turned towards Tyson. The Cyclops wiggled his unibrow and Athena turned away, putting Scooby in his lap. He gave the pup a long hug and then set it down. She looked over to see Poseidon kissing his hand with lipstick on it.

"Is that my lipstick?!" She asked, disturbing the teens. Poseidon gasped, then put a window between them and himself, like in a limo. Athena sighed and looked down at her hand, and then shook her head. Percy and Annabeth broke for air first.

"I haven't felt love's touch for quiet some time. How was that?" Athena asked genuinely.

"Was that an actual question?" Percy asked, blowing a pink bubble.

"Yes, now give me an actual reply." Athena raised an eyebrow.

"Percy? Can I have my gum back?" Annabeth asked. He pressed his lips against hers again and a moment later they broke, this time with Annabeth chewing the gum.

"Wow." Athena's eyebrows jumped into her hair line. It wasn't like she hadn't found an intellectual to love lately, but it was getting harder and harder with more developments in television. Fewer and fewer people were reading books, or using their imaginations, or seeking out answers. Some people didn't even read their bills, they just paid them and moved on.

"Hey, Nico?" Thalia asked him after a moment.

"Hmm?" He asked, removing the purple lipstick she had plastered on his lips. Thalia held up a pair of white boxers, with a strange pattern on them.

"As much as I love wearing your teddy bear boxers, do you want these back?" Thalia laughed. Nico looked in his pants for a moment then sighed, taking them into his hand.


	17. Chapter 17: EXTRA!

((This chapter is a bit of a clarification chapter for reviewers. I don't know why I'm still typing in paranthesis, but I am. And now...The Heph. TV channel brings you...DemiNews.))

"Good evening, I'm Nico Di Angelo." Nico smiled into the camera, winking at Tyson as the Cyclops zoomed in on his face.  
"And, I'm Annabeth Chase. Our first story is a little...odd. Hundreds of blackbirds and drum fish died a few weeks ago, but the cause of the death is unknown. Until now. Our field reporters say that young Nico Di Angelo played around with his father's scepter and killed the poor, defenseless creatures!" Annabeth pulled a giant inflatable hammer, like you win at carnivals, out of nowhere and started to beat Nico with it.  
"Hey! I apologized to them in the Underworld! And, I thought I told Percy to stay out of the Underworld! Last time, he tried to pants me in front of Perseph-"  
"Nico, Annabeth, still lots of stories to tell..." Tyson placed his hands in front of the camera, as if holding it's ears.  
"Right. Thank you, Tyson. Say 'Hi' to the folks at home, buddy." Nico sighed. Tyson stood in front of the camera, his mouth full of peanut butter and breathed into the lens.  
"Thank the gods that most of you can't afford the magic TV with smell-o-vision." Nico snickered under his breath. Annabeth produced the hammer again and started to beat Nico before straightening herself out. She put her hand to her ear and listened intently.  
"Our next story comes from...oh, the producer, katanakid14! He says he would like to tell the show reviewer, Cassie that he will not accept the advice of someone who can't even spell 'combining'. And, although tacos are delicious, they don't help you with that kind of math."  
"Great news from Arizona! Senator Giffords is ready to be moved into rehab!" Nico cheered, throwing confetti into the air, "less homework for me to do when I get back to the Underworld!"  
"Idiot. In more mysterious news, we go to our field reporter, Percy Jackson, to hear about the 'cognac admirer' at Edgar Allen Poe's grave. Percy?" The air split apart, showing Percy in an Iris-message. He was standing over a grave, gazing down into a bottle in his hand. He swayed a little before straightening himself out.  
"Hey, honey! I'm at...Edgar Allen Poor's grave here in Westminster. For sixty years, the 'Poe admirer' left roses and a half bottle of cognac on this brilliant author's grave. But, for the last...two years! See, I remember stuff you tell me, Wise girl! Anyway, for twoooo years, the admirer has not shown up. No one knows who it is, and no one knows why the tradition has stopped. Hic." Percy swayed a little more, then shook his head.  
"Perseus...are you drunk?" Annabeth sighed.  
"No! I had some cognac, so it was a half-bottle, so _somebody_ could give this...dead guy something to drink."  
"Where are the roses?" Nico asked, already guessing the answer.  
"I bought chocolate instead."  
"And, what did you do with that?"  
"Ate it. Hic."  
"I see. Hey, how many fingers am I holding up?" Nico held up three fingers.  
"Idunno. My dyslexia makes it hard to reeeaad." Percy drew out the word. He set the bottle on the grave then stood up and addressed the Iris Message.  
"Back to you, Annabeth."  
"I'm over here." Annabeth sighed, motioning with her finger to turn around.  
"Oh. Hey, baby! Whatcha doing here?" Annabeth threw the hammer through the rainbow, cutting the connection.  
"On a much sadder note, the world's oldest elephant died about...four minutes ago, somewhere in North America." Annabeth continued, trying to control her anger.  
"And, the producer would like to tell hally, that, yes, there is a sequel. In the TV business, we call that a spin off." Nico rolled his eyes.  
"According to the scientific community at CNN and other medias, time travel is possible by using worm holes and many scientific paradoxes." Annabeth tapped her fingers on her hammer.  
"According to CNN, 2010 was the best year in about a...ever... For Captain Hook. About 445 pirate attacks were launched this year, which is like...10% more than 2009." Nico held up a hook on his hand and bobbed his head at the camera.  
"The families of last year's University of Alabama shooting are now threatening to sue provost." Annabeth brought out a b.b. pistol, labeled SUIT.  
"Provost? Is that the stuff in SPAM?"  
"No, it just means they are suing the school for this." And Annabeth fulfilled her life long dream of popping a 'cap' up someone's a-  
"Asses are being rounded up in Silver Springs, Nevada, in an attempt to reduce the population. Of course, crazy activists are down there, trying to protest these federal actions. And now, we head to our guest field reporter." Nico waved his hand, making Tyson bring a second Iris-Message into view. Rachel Dare stood in full Indian garb, trying to smile as a helicopter passed over head.  
"Um...what's with the clothes?" Nico asked, trying not to laugh.  
"I am fighting for the horses and mules right for freedom!" Rachel screeched into the Iris-message, as if this was a rehearsed line she was trying too hard to play.  
"Okay then...How's it going?"  
"Not too good. The Man's fighting back." Rachel sighed.  
"Right...well, just remind the man of how mad Poseidon will be, if you can."  
"Will do." And the message vanished.  
"I think that's almost all the news we have." Annabeth said in surprise, going through her notes.  
"Yeah...what now?"  
"...Cap gun fight until Aelous Weather comes on?" Annabeth tossed a gun and goggles to Nico. Moments later, they were having a Western shoot out. They were hiding behind tables, throwing chairs, using props as shields, and even jumped on Thalia's desk as she wrote Nico's prompter.  
"Go! Sit down, NOW!" She ordered, scaring both demigods. They sat down and started to read the prompter.  
"Today in world news, China..." As Nico read, Percy snuck up, out of nowhere, and threw Thalia into a nearby closet. He began typing on Nico's prompter.  
"The best part of A-Team, is when the crazy guy swings on the helicopter, singing 'Right Round' by Flo Rida. As I will now. YOU SPIN ME RIGHT ROUND BABY, RIGHT ROUND, WHEN YOU GO DOWN BABY, WHEN YOU GO DOWN DOWN!"  
"My name is Annabeth Chase, and this is a post by our Producer on a Linkin Park Breaking The Habit youtube video I must share. He said:'Gee, George Bush, confused? Who'da thought? Maybe if he actually set down the video games and talked to America, we'd know! 'Mr. President, what are your thought on Louisianna? It's in really bad shape? What will you do now?" 'I'm beating Misty and The Lightning Guy, then I'm evolvin' my Charmeleo- Can I start over?'" Deep stuff, sir, deep stuff." Annabeth sighed.  
"In other news, the new Pokemon, Snivy, aka Smugleaf, is a pimp." Nico recited, not questiong the almighty teleprompter. " Them bitches don't know about my backhand. I've been cleaning up after Hades's shit for seven years, but get no respect. That's all right though, because I've been tappin' Persephone for eigh- PERSEUS JACKSON!" Nico roared, lunging at his cousin. Tyson's face appeard in front of the camera, smiling sweetly and waving.  
"Now, crazy weather man!" The screen buzzed out.


End file.
